


All The World's His Stage

by spaced_out1113



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ace Keith, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aroace Pidge, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, Lance has a secret, Lance is a super mega theater kid, Last names of Keith Lance and Hunk are subject to change, M/M, Mutual Pining, Prepare to be here a while, Romance, Shiro is the token Straight Friend (TM), Slow Burn, broganes, cursing, here there be references, keith is a gay ace, lance is bi, what a nerd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2018-12-03 19:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11539032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaced_out1113/pseuds/spaced_out1113
Summary: Keith Kogane's whole life has revolved around his past. Orphaned at a young age, he has been shipped to foster family after foster family. He never stays for long. Most call him a delinquent, but Keith would say he's misunderstood.Within the first month of arriving to his new home, his adoptive brother Shiro takes him to one of the school's theater productions. What Keith sees captures his attention for the next three years. In fact, in his senior year, Keith decides to take up theater and be forced to work as a team with the talented Lance McClain. Shenanigans ensue...





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for deciding to give this fic a read! It's my first one, but I'm confident (sort of) that it will be enjoyed. I apologize for the summary, I know it's an important part of hooking readers, but it's difficult to provide a paragraph of what this story is about without giving the whole thing away. Either way, to the fic!
> 
> A special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> These characters belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not mine.
> 
> Enjoy!

The lights dimmed as Keith glared at Shiro, arms folded across his chest. He didn’t even want to be here. He kept his harsh gaze on the senior until he looked Keith’s way.

With a sigh of exasperation, Shiro turned his attention to him. “Yes, Keith?”

“Remind me again why I have to be here?”

Shiro faced the stage again, watching the drama teacher introduce the play. “I need extra credit for my English class. And you know Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me go by myself - and before you say anything, I already tried everything to get one of my friends to come with me. They were all busy.” 

Keith sunk into his seat, staring ahead now. “Of course they were,” he growled to himself. Shiro must have heard him, because he felt a shoulder bump his.

“Hey, you won’t know if you like it or not without watching it.” Shiro whispered. A fiery retort was on the tip of Keith’s tongue, but the curtains began pulling back at that moment. Giving up, he decided to shut up and pay attention.

The first part was pretty boring, with a drunkard arguing with a bartender lady or whatever. The drunk was left alone, and some rich guy appeared and decided to prank the drunk so he’d believe he was a lord himself. Then things got interesting - at least, for Keith. There was a troupe of actors or something who came to the rich guy and offered to perform something for him and the drunkard to continue the joke, but one of the actors had caught Keith’s eye.

He looked to be Keith’s age, and had warm tan skin and shortly cut brown hair. His face was very expressive, but he seemed to be a bit nervous. Was it his first time performing? Either way, Keith couldn’t keep his eyes off of him the whole time he was onstage. The guy made it a bit difficult to focus on the plot of the play. Keith could feel his face heat whenever he looked away from him. Whenever he wasn’t onstage, Keith was a little disappointed. When he was, he did amazing (Keith may be biased, though).

It was too soon when everyone started clapping, and Keith hurried to join in. He continued staring at the guy, who had a huge smile on his face. _Jesus, no one should look that good. Unfair._ The whole cast and crew took their bows, and then people started to leave.

Keith stuck close behind Shiro, keeping his head down as he shuffled through the row. The light outside the theater didn’t really bother him since his face was hidden by his untrimmed bangs. Keith could hear the excited chatter of the cast, who were accepting congrats from friends and family.

He hadn’t been expecting it when he felt his shoulder collide with another. Immediately irritated, Keith lifted his head with harsh words ready to sting, but froze. Fuck, he’d accidentally bumped into the guy. The boy had kind of lost his balance, and looked back at Keith with an annoyed look of his own. Before Keith could apologize, he was already turning away from him and hugging a big guy who looked to be... crying??

Keith felt his face burn as he turned away to focus on the heels of Shiro’s shoes. He ended up stepping on them a couple of times, but he didn't care.

They reached Shiro’s car and Keith slid into the passenger seat without a word. The car rumbled as it started, and continued to hum as they made their way out of the school’s parking lot.

Once they were on the main road, Shiro spoke up. “So, what'd you think of it? Better than you thought, huh?”

Keith looked out the window, the better to hide his flushed face and tiny smile. “Yeah… it was.”


	2. Three Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> These characters belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not mine.

“Keith, you need to do something with the school this year.” Keith rolled his eyes, trying to endure yet another one of these stupid discussions.

“I do stuff,” he countered, grasping at straws now.

“Name one extracurricular you’ve done any of your high school years. I’ll wait.” Looking smug, his foster mom leaned against the back of the couch. Keith remained silent, averting his gaze.

His foster dad let out a breath and looked to Keith. “Look, we know that you have.…” He paused, as if searching for the right word. “... trouble getting along with the kids at your school. But maybe if you just gave them a chance-”

“I’ve BEEN giving them chances! For the past three years!” Keith finally shouted, rising to his feet. “When is enough enough?!”

His foster mom stood as well, jabbing a finger at him. “Keith. You WILL sign up for something this year. I don’t care what you do. A sport, the Honor society,” Keith scoffed in disbelief. “Hell, you can do THEATER for all I care-”

She was cut off by his foster dad, who’d decided to finally step in, and rested a hand on his wife’s shoulder. He looked to Keith. “Why don’t you go to your room and think about it, okay?”

Keith shrugged, mumbled a “Whatever,” under his breath, and headed upstairs. However, instead of taking the left to his room, he continued straight and right to a closed door. He knocked and opened it to reveal Shiro playing Minecraft on his Xbox.

Shiro didn’t acknowledge him outside of a faint murmur of greeting, so Keith plopped next to him on his bed with a look of distaste. “How old are you?”

“Shut up, it’s night and I’m on hard mode.” Keith didn’t say anymore, instead keeping still and watching with disinterest until the in-game sky began to lighten. Once the white block (otherwise known as the sun) had fully risen, Shiro exhaled a sigh of relief. “Okay, what did you need?”

“If you didn’t hear all the screaming downstairs, then you wouldn’t know how Karen is forcing me to do something with the school this year,” Keith growled, frowning at the thought of it.

Shiro paused the game to give his foster brother his full attention. “Wait, why is she making you?”

“Because she doesn’t think I have a life. And she wants me to be like you. I don’t know.” Keith looked away. He heard Shiro sigh in exasperation, and Keith interrupted. “Don’t act like it’s not true, you know the kind of shit she says, especially when it involves you and your ‘glory days of high school’,” He flopped onto Shiro’s bed, smacking his hands against his face. “This is so stupid.”

Shiro watched him, looking a little worried. “Well, to be fair, I DID hear her shout ‘theater,’ so maybe you could do that.”

Keith glared at Shiro through his fingers. “Don’t fucking joke with me.”

Shiro threw up his hands up in defense. “I’m not, I’m just suggesting-”

“Well, don’t.” God, Keith could feel his face begin to flush and absolutely hated it. 

“Keith, just hear me out, okay?” Keith groaned in response, but didn’t move. “I just think that you’ve been kind of aloof with the whole guy thing. You've been to every single theater production for the past three years, and you haven't _once_ spoken to him.” God fucking dammit, Shiro, stop talking. “And I just thought that, you know, doing theater would give you a chance to get closer to him so you at least have a fighting chance or something.”

By now, Keith could FEEL his face was just a flaming ball of despair and he willed Shiro to shut the hell up before he jumped out the window. “That’s what I got. So, would you feel up to it?”

Keith groaned again, his mind flitting through excuses to try and get out of this. “But I can’t act for shit. I’d probably be cut before auditions even started.”

“There’s backstage crew and tech for the show.”

“But… I don’t know how to DO the tech shit!”

“They’ll teach you.”

“But....” Keith trailed off, unable to think of anything else to counter the idea. 

Shiro smirked at him. “There is no argument. Now why don’t you go tell Mom that you want to do tech for theater?”

Keith frowned, but rolled off the bed, catching himself before he face planted. Before he left, he quickly raised his middle finger at Shiro. He heard Shiro’s voice echo out of his room and off the hallway’s walls. “Love you too!”

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad….

 

 

Keith stood outside the theater’s doors, swallowing thickly. God, what was he getting himself into? Why did he agree to this? Goddammit. Opening the door was like ripping off a band-aid, but that might have been because Keith was nervous. Incredibly so. He didn’t know what to expect with this whole thing, and his heart was beginning to thump rapidly in his chest. Keith walked in. The overhead lights were on like they usually were before a production. He didn’t really know what to do, so he just sat toward the back where he’d be somewhat out of sight. He must have been pretty early, because there was only a couple people in here.

Keith began messing around on his phone to pass the time, but was soon interrupted when a loud laugh sounded throughout the entire room. And it’s a huge fucking room. Keith turned around, half expecting it to be who he thought it was, but was still taken by surprise. It was the guy he’d been captivated by for the past three years, ever since that first play he’d seen him in (which he had learned later was called The Taming of the Shrew). He was talking to a girl, probably their age, who had long, startlingly white hair. She didn’t seem to think his joke was very funny, but the guy shrugged it off and headed toward the front. Keith noticed that there were some people there, because the guy high fived them before sitting down in one of the seats like he owned the place. It was kind of infuriating, but also a bit endearing? What the hell.

As time passed, more and more people began filing in and taking seats. They all sat near the front, where the guy seemed to radiate confidence. He greeted every single person who came in, which was also pretty annoying and made Keith feel inadequate. They’d gone to the same school since freshmen year and he still didn’t know most of his class. It was a few more minutes of Keith sitting there stewing in his anger before all of a sudden-

“HELLO, STUDENTS!!”

Keith nearly jumped out of his seat and stared wide-eyed as an older teacher with a full head of red hair and a prominent mustache strolled into the room like he hadn’t just shouted into a whole fucking auditorium. _This is off to a good start._

The guy didn’t seem to flinch, which made Keith feel even more embarrassed. “Hey, Coran!” he called, waving to him excitedly. He stood as the teacher approached, and was wrapped in a tight hug.

“Lance, my boy, I missed you this summer,” Coran said, pulling away and wiping fake tears from his eyes. 

The guy - who had a name now - grinned at him as he pulled him into another hug. “Missed you too, man.” When they separated again, Coran turned to face the students and Lance sat back down. ( _Lance is his name, holy shit…_ )

Coran smiled at the rather large group. Jesus, there was a lot more people here than Keith thought there’d be. Wait, he was speaking. “All right, then! To start off, would you all mind coming to the stage? Just hop on up. Once you’re here, please form a nice circle.”

People started to move, with Lance in the lead, so Keith just pushed himself up and began slowly going down to the stage. When they’d finally gotten their “circle” (like you could even call it that) situated, Coran sat beside Lance, and started talking. “Now, we’re just going clockwise and saying our names, our year, how many years we’ve done theater, and…” Coran paused, lifting a finger to his chin in thought.

Suddenly, Lance blurted out, “Let’s do favorite vines! To honor the death of our favorite app.” Then he... he fucking crossed himself, Keith couldn’t believe it.

He rolled his eyes, but there was more support for this moronic idea than protest. Coran looked to Lance in confusion. “What is this… Vine you speak of? Is it in the jungle?” The whole circle (excluding Keith) burst into laughter.

Lance seemed to be in tears from laughing so hard. “N-No, it’s… it’s a 6-second video made for people’s entertainment. Here, I’ll use my turn to show you.” He then cleared his throat, speaking a bit deeper. “Hello, everyone. My name is Lance McClain, and I’m a senior this year. I’ve been doing theater for my whole high school career, back when I was a wee freshman like some of you. And I’ll pull up my favorite vine….” He pulled out his phone and began rapidly typing. “It’s just a quick little thing, but I’m sure it’ll be right up your alley, Coran.” He turned his phone sideways, and held it so they could both see. There was a crash from Lance's phone, and the two burst into laughter. 

The rest of the group went about the same way, except for first-timers. They were obviously more nervous than Lance, but the vines definitely broke the ice, so maybe it wasn’t too bad of an idea. At least, until they got to Keith.

He folded his arms across his chest, speaking up. “I’m Keith. Senior. First time doing theater. None.” He heard a scoff across the circle, and glanced over. Lance was frowning. “What,” Keith said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

“You did it wrong. You need to say your full name AND your favorite vine.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Kogane. And like I said, I don’t have a favorite vine.”

There was a chorus of complaints about the vine thing, but Keith didn’t care. He was more focused on Lance, who looked confused. “I thought it was Shirogane, though…?”

Keith visibly winced. He didn’t want to be associated with that name, even though Shiro was not even here. He didn’t want to be stuck in his shadow right off the fucking bat. Through gritted teeth, he said slowly, “My last name is Kogane. End of story. Moving on.” He glared at the kid next to him, who kind of looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but proceeded with their introductions shakily. Keith kept his arms folded over his chest for the rest of the meet-circle or whatever the fuck this was. A few times he’d glance at Lance, though, and was surprised to see that he was watching him, and pretty intently too. Keith tried to ignore it, but was finding it more and more difficult.

They finally finished the stupid thing, and Coran’s voice rose over the students’ chatter. “Okay, I’m going to need you guys to separate into two groups: tech on this side,” he gestured to his left, “and those auditioning with me.”

Keith didn’t want to stand, so he scooted over to the side where he was supposed to be, along with some more kids who probably weren’t brave enough to audition. He couldn’t help but notice the different sizes of the groups. He was obviously in the smaller one, and decided to let it bother him just a bit.

Once everyone was seated in their designated areas, Coran began instructing again in his booming voice. “Now, those of you auditioning for a part will stay with me in here. Those of you in tech will be led on a tour of the backstage. Pidge will be in charge, won’t you?”

Keith could see a short kid to his left do a… salute of some kind? What the hell was that all about? Either way, people were leaving, so he stood to follow them. The whole tour thing was literally just Pidge pointing out stuff and whatnot, along with lights and costumes and the set construction and - _Holy shit, how much goes into these things?_

When the mind-numbing tour was done, Pidge led the group back to where they’d met, and said they could just watch the auditions until Coran gave further instructions. Keith plopped in the seat where he’d left his backpack and began playing on his phone. The person auditioning was okay, but Keith had seen better performances from Lance. _Oh, God, that’s why he was here… Again, fuck you, Shiro._

He spent the next hour and a half on his phone waiting for the auditions to be over. He was getting pretty bored, and his phone’s battery was almost dead. Keith didn’t have any homework, so the only thing he had left to do was actually sit and watch what was happening on the stage. He leaned on the armrest of his chair, and began dozing off. 

That was, until he heard Coran call Lance’s name. Keith blinked open his eyes and quickly propped his chin on his palm in order to see better.

Lance was in the middle of the stage, holding a packet. He glanced down at it, cleared his throat, and began. He quoted what sounded to be lines about being in love with a girl or something.

Keith could definitely say Lance’s acting had improved over the course of the years. He was now really good at communicating emotion through what he said and did, but it wasn’t too dramatic, like most people. Personally, Keith found it incredibly irritating when people over exaggerated their lines and acting. But Lance? Lance did it perfectly (again, he may be a little biased).

 

 

It was now a quarter to 8, and auditions had been done a while ago. Now they were just doing team bonding and acting games, and it was actually kind of fun. Lance had also decided to make it a competition at one point, trying to best Keith (which wasn’t too hard, but it didn’t matter) in acting. Keith was actually surprised when it was almost time to go home. 

The last thing they did before Coran sent them off was gather into a circle again, and have each person tell their favorite part of the day. Lance obviously said his auditions, but most people enjoyed the activities at the end. Keith was inclined to agree with them, and didn’t hesitate to. When he caught Lance’s eye, that idiot was fucking SMIRKING at him like a complete prick. Keith rolled his eyes, frowning. (Why did he even like this guy?)

When they were dismissed, there was a rush of students hurrying to get their stuff. Keith was much slower, mostly because he didn’t want to end up in that tidal wave of body odor and hormones, and left a little later than the rest of the group. He watched as people were picked up, one by one, until he was the only one left.

Frowning, he began dialing Karen’s number. He thought he told her it was going until 8pm. He heard it ring a few times, then go to voicemail. Cursing, he ended the call, then tried Mike. No answer. What the fuck, foster parents. Grumbling, he began walking off to the nearest bus stop.

“Keith!” His voice was all too familiar now, and Keith froze. He slowly turned to face Lance, who was waving to him from the sidewalk. “Do you need a ride home?”

Keith felt his face begin to heat up, and thanked God that it was kind of dark. “I was just going to take the bus, but… thanks.” Lance nodded, but didn’t press further. Frankly, Keith was a little disappointed - that was an understatement - but ignored it. He checked the bus schedule, and the bus he needed wasn’t going to come around for another 30 minutes. Yeah, no way Keith was going to wait that long in the dark.

He quickly turned and began running back into the parking lot in an attempt to catch Lance. He was starting to drive toward the school’s exit, but Keith flailed his arms until he caught Lance’s attention. He was a little out of breath, but managed to ask, “Actually, could I possibly get a ride?”

Lance rolled the window down. “So you do need a lift?”

Keith glared. “Yes.”

“Okay, then. You'll need to tell me how to get to your house.” Lance unlocked the door and Keith quickly got in, relief flooding him.

When the car wasn’t moving, he looked to Lance. “Uh, are we leaving or…?”

“You’re forgetting something.” Lance stared at him with no joking light in his eyes, and it made Keith very uncomfortable.

“What? What is it?” Keith began looking back the way he’d come, trying to see if he’d dropped anything. “Fuck,” he breathed.

“Keith.”

“What is it?”

“... It’s your seatbelt, man.”

Keith remained silent as he tugged the buckle over him and secured it. He then turned to the still-open window in an attempt to hide the blush rising on his face. Lance started going, and stopped at the light. “Which way?” 

“Uh, right.” 

The car ride was silent the whole time, aside from Keith telling Lance where he needed to go. Too soon, they pulled up in front of his house, and Keith saw (unsurprisingly) that both of his foster parents’ cars were in the driveway. “Typical,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What?” 

“Nothing. Thanks for taking me home,” he said as he got out of the car and tossed his backpack over one shoulder. 

“No problem. Just… don’t make a habit of it.” Keith nodded, a little put-off about that ominous sentence, but closed the car door and walked into the house.

When the door closed, Keith turned and watched Lance drive away. He faced forward again, eyes wide. Jesus, when did his heart start racing? He quickly climbed the stairs to his room, tossed his backpack on the floor, and fell onto his bed.

What. The fuck. Had he gotten himself into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


	3. Who Knew Lunch Could Be So Eventful?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> These characters belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not mine.

The next two weeks passed rather slowly for Keith. Life began settling into the easy routine of school, theater, and home. Though he didn’t have as much time to lounge about like he used to, there were a couple benefits. Now that theater was taking up all his spare time, Keith didn’t have to waste an hour or two hanging around his foster parents. It also meant a small amount of time to do homework, so at least now Keith had an excuse when Karen came in at half past midnight to see what the hell he was up to (especially when he couldn’t sleep).

Keith had also begun to gain some friends out of this thing too. The tech people weren’t as bad as he’d initially thought, especially Pidge. She seemed pretty young to be put in charge of the tech team, but she probably had the most experience out of all of them. Apparently, she was also a senior, claiming that she’d skipped a couple of grades. She and Keith talked a lot in between working the lights and helping with the set (among a few of their duties), and they bonded over their mutual asexuality.

It was an ordinary day so far, and Keith and Pidge were talking while doing soundchecks (he managed to steal a couple glances at Lance, who was helping some of the freshmen with their lines). Then, Pidge asked the most unexpected question.

“Would you want to eat lunch with us tomorrow?”

Keith froze, turning his attention to Pidge. This moment was a first for him. No one, in all the schools he’d been to, had ever asked him such a thing. It wasn’t because Keith was a loner - he was - but rather that no one had gotten to know him enough to be invited to sit at one’s table.

He was silent for a few moments, contemplating what the consequences of this situation could be. He wasn’t coming up with any. So what did he even have to lose? Keith gave a noncommittal shrug before responding, “Sure, why not.”

 

When Keith left his classroom for lunch, he felt a tug on his sleeve. He glanced down and was a little startled to see Pidge pulling him along through the crowded hallway to the lunchroom. She hurried to a table in the corner of the room, dropped her stuff on a seat, and faced Keith. “I’m getting in the lunch line, you want anything?”

“Um, I’m good.”

With a nod, Pidge turned and hurried to the rapidly growing group of students waiting for their meals. Keith wondered how long it’d take for her to get through. In the meantime, he sat on the seat beside her shit, pulled a bag of chips from his backpack, and began eating.

So far, the table he was seated at was empty, so Keith just observed passersby in boredom. It was a few minutes before he heard someone, more like a couple someone's, stop at the table. He glanced over and his heart nearly stopped, falling into the pit of his stomach.

Of all tables. Of all fucking tables, Pidge’s was the one Lance McClain sat. What are the odds. Lance realized who it was, and folded his arms. Keith managed to keep a straight face despite the gymnastics routine going on internally and raised an eyebrow at Lance in question.

Lance frowned. “Uh, what are you doing?”

Keith shrugged. “Sitting. What does it look like?”

“You know what I meant. Why are you sitting HERE? Out of every single spot in this school?”

“Because I invited him.” Pidge’s voice interrupted Lance’s interrogation. Keith could not have been more thankful for her sudden appearance.

In the meantime, Pidge and Lance were having a silent staring contest that Pidge was clearly winning. With a groan of defeat, Lance plopped on a seat a bit away from Keith, and his friend sat next to him.

“Guess I’m staying, huh?” Keith smirked at Lance, surprising himself.

Lance’s frown deepened (stop being cute stop being cute), and he glanced away. “Shut your face, mullet.”

With that, Lance’s friend started talking quickly to Pidge, too fast for Keith to comprehend (he still managed to gather that this guy’s name was Hunk; Keith remembered him from after every performance hugging the shit out of Lance). Instead, he watched Lance move his food around his plate at random intervals while sometimes trying to understand the conversation. A few more people joined, but Keith didn’t really recognize them. Lance, however, launched into animated conversations with them, so they were probably in theater too.

All in all, things weren’t too bad until - “Oi! Shirogane!” Keith flinched before glaring in the direction of the voice. It seemed to be a football player, a senior. Probably knew Shiro, then. “Whaddya doing sitting with the drama queens?!” His entire table started laughing. 

Keith could tell that comment had pissed off half of his table. He smirked in the jock’s direction. “Drama queens, huh? Why don’t you come join us, you’d fit right in.” 

Keith heard a few snorts of laughter from his table and the guy stood up. “What’d you say to me, punk?!” Keith rose to his feet.

“You heard me.”

Steam practically pouring out of his ears, the guy charged toward their table and tried to tackle Keith. He, of course, missed as Keith stepped away in a well-practiced manner and punched the guy’s side with a carefully aimed jab. The guy landed on the ground gasping, and the whole room went silent.

Keith quickly shifted into fighting stance as the jock slowly picked himself off the ground. “Y-You shouldn’t have done that,” he said shakily, before throwing a fist at Keith. He ducked and swiftly landed another punch on the guy’s cheek. The jock reeled for a few seconds, then he steadied himself and prepared another attack.

Before he could, the vice principal intervened, looking furious. “The two of you are going to the Principal Iverson’s office. Now.” She grabbed the both of them by one arm and began pulling them toward the office. Frowning, Keith tried to pull his away.

“Uh, I don’t need to. I was defending myself.” Keith’s arm felt like it was being strangled as she tightened her grip into a vice.

“The BOTH of you, will be going to the principal’s office. NOW.”

Frown deepening, Keith let himself be dragged away to certain doom.

 

“Boys, you know fighting is against the rules. Your problems can be settled in a calm, civilized manner.” Principal Iverson’s voice was cold and filled Keith with a sense of dread. “So why on _Earth_ weren’t you able to work them out?”

The jock beside Keith - who was apparently called Zeke - leaned back in his seat. He had a bag of ice planted firmly on his face. Shit, the look on Zeke’s face suggested this would not go well. “All right, sir, picture this: a rowdy lunch room. Peaceful. I spotted Keithy here,” Zeke clapped a hand on Keith’s back, and Keith nearly flew face-first into Iverson’s desk, “sitting with some of the people in theater, and I tried to start a little friendly banter.” Zeke glanced at Keith before sighing dramatically. “I guess he took it personally, and called me a drama queen in response. Then, he decided to attack me! Got me here,” he motioned to the bruise forming on his face, hidden by the ice pack, “and here.” He gestured to his side, which was probably bruising too. Keith felt a feeling of triumph course through him.

That feeling quickly dissipated when Keith saw the look on Iverson’s face soften as Zeke continued his wildly inaccurate tale. He rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. Utter horseshit is what this was. “All right there, Zeke. If that’s all you have to say, you can go back to lunch.” The jock nodded with a sickeningly fake smile, then got up and left the office.

Keith watched him go with a frown, before looking back at Iverson. It was just a bit creepy that the principal was glaring daggers at him. “What.”

“Shirogane, how many more fights are you going to get into at this school?! Haven’t we dealt with you enough!?” Keith narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything. There was silence before Iverson declared, “You will be serving detention for two hours after school for the next week.”

Keith fought the smirk threatening to appear on his face. “I’m actually unable to go to then. I’m busy with theater. Sorry ‘bout that.”

Iverson’s glare seemed to get sharper, if that was even possible. “Is that so? Well, I guess you’ll have to serve _three_ weeks of lunch detention starting tomorrow! Does that work with your schedule, Shirogane!?”

Keith lifted an eyebrow in challenge. “Yes it does, in fact, thanks.”

“Don’t you get sassy with me, boy. Now get out of my office.” He shrugged and stood up, deliberately walking at a slow pace. 

When the door closed, Keith began walking to his next class. Lunch was almost over anyway. However, fate had different plans. He hadn’t walked a foot when he was bombarded with shouts of excitement. Keith glanced behind him and was surprised to see Pidge leading the group from the lunch table. Straight… at him. Pidge launched herself forward and wrapped her arms around him.

“KEITH! That was amazing!” Keith could hear the muffled exclamations coming from her, and he awkwardly let his arms fall around her. This was a… strange feeling, to say the least.

“Uh… what was?” Keith felt a hand on his shoulder and was shocked to see it was Lance, grinning widely. _Shit, he’s too fucking close, he’s so pretty, good Lord. Why was it suddenly hot in here?_

“You totally dropped Zeke, it was SO cool,” Lance gave his shoulder a squeeze, and it made Keith’s heart flutter. He smiled slightly.

“Yeah?”

“So how did Iverson treat you?” Their moment was interrupted by Hunk. He looked similar to the rest of the group, wide-eyed and curious.

Keith rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Well, Zeke got off ‘cause he’s a fuckin’ asshole, and I got three weeks of lunch detention.”

 _“WHAT?!”_ Their collective shout disturbed those eating in the hall, and they hurried away, dragging Keith with them.

“You have to give us a play-by-play.”

“Yeah, how the hell’d you end up with detention when that prick started it?”

Smirking, Keith obliged their demands, and was pleasantly surprised to find they all were on his side. They continued talking about it the rest of the day, even during theater rehearsals, hours later. And Keith kept catching Lance staring at him. How the fuck? 

As Keith’s story came to an end for the umpteenth time that day, he heard Pidge’s voice pipe up. “So, do you think Zeke’ll try anything?”

Keith rolled his eyes, smirk widening. “I doubt it. He probably wouldn’t want me to mess up his face any more than it already is.”

As their laughter echoed throughout the theater, Keith couldn’t help but begin to feel as though he might just be beginning to warm up to these people.


	4. How The Game Is Played

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not my own creations.

“Coran, I vote we take a break for today and play some team bonding games. How can we put on a show if we don’t know each other that well?”

Keith sighed in annoyance. If this was going to be how the rest of his day was spent, he would rather go home and actually be productive. He mentally tried to convince Coran of how bad of an idea this was. They wouldn’t be able to put on a show if people didn’t know how to do what needed to get done.

Unfortunately, Coran agreed. “That might be a good idea, Lance.” With that, Coran raised his voice to gain the attention of everyone, while Keith stifled a groan of irritation.

Once everyone had gathered, Coran spoke again. “Lance has informed me that we as a group probably need to get to know each other better, in order to work together as a team. Now,” he turned to Lance, who was smiling his trademark smirk. “I’m going to let Lance take the floor. Lance, you’re in charge here. If you need me, you know where to find me.”

With that, Coran went to his office in backstage, and Lance clapped his hands together. “Okay, let’s throw some ideas around and see what we can do.” He quickly ran off the stage to grab a piece of paper and a pencil.

People suggested a bunch of stupid stuff, like Truth or Dare, Never Have I Ever, Two Truths and A Lie, basically a whole bunch of icebreaker games that were a waste of time. Of course, Lance wrote everything down.

Once a “good” list was formed, they started with a simple one: the human knot. It went as well as it sounded. Loud voices, pulling of limbs; it was all irritating Keith to no end.

When that fiasco was over, they did a bunch of other stuff like Trust Fall, a live-action rock/paper/scissors (which Lance challenged Keith to over and over), and charades.

Then they started digging deeper, with Truth or Dare and Never Have I Ever. Somehow, Keith always managed to be one of the first to run out of fingers to count on for Never Have I Ever (he blamed Lance).

Truth or Dare was… interesting, to say the least. Keith always chose truth on his turn (which wasn’t very often, seeing as people were still intimidated by him), along with the occasional dare if he was being asked by Lance. That guy was always giving Keith all kinds of shit, no matter what he did, and he couldn’t understand it.

It was now Keith’s turn, and Pidge had asked him why he’d joined theater. He explained how his foster mom practically forced him to do something for the school, leading him to choose theater.

“Why theater?” Pidge asked. Keith was not going to answer that in front of the whole group.

“Only one question. No more, no less.” With that, he faced Lance, narrowing his eyes at him. “Lance. Truth or dare?”

Lance held Keith’s gaze. “Dare. Lay it on me, mullethead.”

Keith scoffed, folding his arms. “All right. Tell us your biggest secret.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I said dare, not truth.”

“It is a dare. I dare you to tell us your biggest secret.”

“No! It’s not a real dare!”

Keith grumbled in irritation as he was met with opposition from everyone else. “Fine. New dare: clog one of the school toilets. I’ll provide video evidence to prove to everyone you did it.”

“Now that’s more like it.” Lance stood and hopped down from the stage, Keith following suit. They both began making their way out of the theater. Lance called, “You’re in charge, Pidge!” before scurrying out the door and into the hallway. Keith hurried after him, but not before hearing a groan of annoyance from Pidge.

Once they were out, Keith began moving swiftly to the nearest bathroom, forcing Lance to keep up quietly.

They managed to get into the bathroom without too much trouble, now standing in front of one of the toilets. “Okay, how do you expect me to clog this thing?”

Keith glanced at Lance, quirking an eyebrow. “I dunno, you’re doing the dare. You figure it out.” With that, he tugged his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the video camera. Keith looked at Lance again. “Ready?” 

Lance hadn’t moved from his spot, his face thoughtful. Suddenly, he hurried into the stall. Keith fumbled to press the record button, then tried to angle the camera in order to capture what he was doing.

Lance had grabbed a roll of toilet paper and was basically unrolling the whole thing into the toilet. Halfway through, he turned to look at Keith. “Do you have any chocolate?”

Keith frowned, struggling to connect the dots. “Uh… no.”

“Dammit,” Lance murmured as he pushed past Keith, and started going through the stalls. Keith tried to follow, but just gave up. Finally, Lance burst through the last stall, holding a few empty rolls. He hurried to the sink and began soaking them before squeezing them one at a time.

“Lance, what the hell are you doing.” Keith interjected as Lance turned and headed for the toilet he was trying to clog.

“Well, we gotta make it seem like there’s a reason it’s clogged…” Keith wrinkled his nose as Lance dropped them in there. He kept filling the toilet with the rest of the toilet paper roll, and another half of one.

Then, he turned to Keith with a smirk. “You might want to get this.” With that, he flushed the toilet. Sure enough, the thing was clogged. Ridiculously clogged. Like water was filling up the bowl quickly and starting to spill out.

Keith quickly stepped back, a look of disgust on his face. “Okay, okay, dare’s complete, let’s go.” He ended the video and hustled to the bathroom’s entrance. He heard a few more flushes before Lance appeared beside him, pushing open the door.

They hurried back to the theater. There were a lot of people talking when they entered, but the voices died quickly when they saw Keith and Lance running back onto the stage. For a few seconds, the only sound was their rapid breathing. Then Pidge spoke. “Did you do it?”

Without a word, Keith unlocked his phone and pulled up the video. He skipped to the end and showed Pidge the overflowing toilet. Her eyes grew wide, then she turned to Lance. His smirk was wide and smug (but still endearing) and he cleared his throat before speaking. “I NEVER back out of a dare.”

Shortly after, the video was passed around and the whole room was filled with wild laughter. Keith didn’t join in - it wasn’t that funny - but upon imagining the janitor’s face when he saw the water-filled floor, he couldn’t help but let out a few short laughs.

Once that was over with, the game continued on, but none of the dares got as bad as the one Keith gave Lance. However, it was definitely more fun now. In fact, Keith decided to do a dare.

Pidge raised an eyebrow mischievously at him. “Alright… I dare you to let the whole group give you a new hairstyle.”

Keith’s eyes widened slightly as he began to question his life choices.

“Aw, hell yeah! Nice one, Pidge!” God fucking dammit. Lance was literally _running_ through the circle to get to Keith. He stood in front of Keith, his signature smirk evident. “We gotta fix that mullet you’ve got going on there.”

Defiant as ever, Keith folded his arms and glared up at him. “Do your worst.”

Lance’s smirk grew into a wicked grin, and he began ordering a bunch of people to pass him hair ties and clips and all sorts of junk. They even raided the dressing room for things such as headbands and… flower crowns?!

The first thing Lance did was take a clip, push back Keith’s “bangs” (or whatever they were), and pin it into place. Then he started taking a whole bunch of shit from the pile everyone had gathered and strategically sticking it in Keith’s hair. The amount of focus on his face made him look like he was playing a game of chess. Meanwhile, Keith’s internal monologue was flipping the FUCK out, because Lance’s fingers were combing through his hair every few seconds and occasionally touching his face and this whole thing was just a disaster, this was such a bad idea. Why the hell had Pidge subjected him to this torture?!

In the back of his mind, Keith knew it’d only been five minutes or so, but it still felt like an eternity had passed. Finally, Lance took a step back, surveyed his work, and declared the job done. The group gathered around, trying to get a glimpse of the finished product. Keith hadn’t moved from his spot, partly so Lance could “fix” his hair easier, but mostly because he’d been frozen in shock. He was fairly certain his face had been pink the whole time Lance was styling his hair.

Lance quickly took out his phone. A few seconds later he said, “Say cheese!” and snapped a photo. Then he looked between his phone and Keith. After approximately ten seconds, Lance hummed. “Guess your hair _can_ look somewhat modern.”

Keith’s brain finally regained control of his body and he leaned forward to get a look. Well… it wasn’t too bad. He just looked like a kid. His expression was grumpy, but now his eyes were visible (he could see better too, but he was going to ignore that). The bottom part of his hair was still hanging around his neck. Lance had braided his hair so it looked like crown, working in a metallic gold ribbon, then had allowed the leftover hair to fall around his neck. Then he had arranged the majority of the clips and pins into the braid so it looked like Keith had a glittery halo around his head. It actually wasn’t too bad. He looked… better than usual.

Keith looked up at Lance, a little annoyed. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

Lance tilted his head a bit. “Do what?”

“What do you think?! Hair stuff, or whatever the fuck!”

Then Lance chuckled. “I, uh, I have a lot of younger nieces. They like having their hair braided and stuff.”

Keith stared at him for a good five seconds. “Huh.”

They went back to the game after that, but Keith couldn’t help his wandering mind. Lance messing with his hair had actually felt really nice… he kind of wished it had taken longer.

 

When the time came to leave, Keith found himself not wanting to. Maybe because he didn’t want to ruin Lance’s hard work. He knew he needed to take everything out and give materials back to people, but he honestly kind of didn’t want to. Surprisingly, Keith actually felt loose and relaxed for once. And today was even better, because he actually had a ride home since Shiro was home for the weekend.

Keith hurried to his car, getting into the passenger seat. Shiro raised his eyebrows at him. “You seem to be in a good mood, Keith.” 

Keith smiled slightly at his foster brother. “I am.” He paused. “You’re going to be Mike and Karen’s guinea pig this weekend.” Shiro scoffed.

“Uh huh. But you seem happy besides that. Did something happen at school today?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re acting like such a dad right now. Nothing happened.”

“Okay, okay…” Shiro didn’t move to put the car into drive. “Have you made any progress with Theater Guy yet?”

Keith’s face immediately flushed and he shook his head. “No. I mean, I know his name. And I’m pretty sure he knows mine.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shiro grin.

“That’s great! Do you want to talk about it?”

Keith shrugged. “I dunno. I mean… not right now.” He looked up at Shiro. “Could we talk at home?”

Shiro nodded, then began to drive out of the parking lot. Through the passenger seat, Keith saw Lance getting into his car. Keith watched him for as long as he could before his visibility was cut by shrubbery.

 

Keith retreated upstairs to his room, dropping his school bag beside his bed. Shiro was busy talking to his parents. For now, Keith sat on his bed, messing with his phone. He still had the video of Lance in the bathroom, and he struggled to prevent a smile from stretching across his face.

“What’re you smiling about?”

Shiro’s voice startled Keith out of his reminiscing, and he immediately glared at him. “Nothing, none of your business,” he growled.

Shiro closed the door then sat on the edge of Keith’s bed. “So, what’s the update on Theater Guy?”

Keith felt his expression soften slightly, and he looked away. “His name’s Lance.”

Shiro smiled wide. “That’s awesome! Tell me how you found out.”

And that was how Keith ended up telling Shiro what had happened for the past month between him and Lance - their interactions, Keith’s fight, today’s Truth or Dare, all of it. Although he was initially a bit reluctant to tell the bit about his given dare, he eventually gave in. The two freaked out over it together and Shiro tried to give Keith advice on how to proceed.

“Okay, I don’t know how to go about this for guys, but maybe just keep trying to get closer to him?”

Keith sighed. “I don’t want things to be weird if I try to flirt or something and he’s straight. Then we’d just be tiptoeing around the huge ass elephant in the room, aka my feelings for him.”

Shiro paused, deep in thought. “Then could you possibly try to find out how he swin - er, who he likes. That way, you can still be close friends even if he doesn’t like guys.”

“That… actually has some sound logic. But how the hell would I figure it out?”

“Listening, Keith. Observing. One of your best skills is gathering information while staying out of drama. I say you should make the best of it.”

Keith nodded slowly. After a few seconds, he stopped. “Was that supposed to be a really shitty joke?”

The conversation ended with Shiro’s grinning face meeting Keith’s pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be late. Thank you for your patience!


	5. Disagreements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy, an update a month later... Sorry for leaving you hanging and abandoning my regular weekly chapters. I got writer's block because I had no idea how I wanted to execute this chapter. I also was doing homework I had been procrastinating on all summer so, there's that. But hey, at least it's done now!
> 
> So I just started school today, so chapters will be more random so I ask that you all bear with me.
> 
>  
> 
> Super special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not my own creation.

The weeks continued to pass gradually, with the play beginning to come together pretty nicely. It didn’t seem like time was passing until dread began to settle in. Opening night was a week away and everyone was rushing to make sure everything was working the way it was supposed to be. Coran had been gracious enough to inform the crew that the next week would be spent in dress rehearsals and for everyone to be ready with their scripts and cues memorized for the most part, more or less.

Keith was in charge of the sound system, along with a couple of other tech people assisting. Pidge was sitting next to him handling the stage lighting, another member of tech seated beside her. The rest of the tech crew were scattered throughout the theater, taking care of costumes and makeup, props, and making sure the actors were in their correct places.

The first act was going pretty well in Keith’s opinion, despite a few minor mishaps due to a prop being lost or forgotten lines. Lance, as always, was on top of everything acting-wise, reciting his lines perfectly and helping his fellow actors and actresses with words of encouragement. Keith found it a bit difficult to focus on his cues, especially with the walking distraction that was Lance. This was also one of the first times he’d needed to actually do something; in all his previous times viewing a production, he was in the audience, not the stage crew.

“Keith!” Pidge dug her bony elbow into Keith side. He snapped out of his daze, looking at her. She was glancing down at the stage as emphatically as she could. 

“Fuck, did I miss a cue?” He scanned through the script hurriedly in an attempt to find where they were. He stopped when one of the other sound technicians reached over and pushed the correct button for the sound.

Face beginning to burn in embarrassment, Keith looked down to the stage and saw Lance staring back (at least, it looked like he was), frowning. Then he returned to acting out his scene.

Keith glanced away in an attempt to hide the flush continuing to invade his cheeks and let out a sigh. He had to get his shit together before the play or he didn’t know WHAT would happen.

Amidst all his worries, Keith felt a hand on his arm and he glanced over. Pidge looked a little concerned, and she asked, “Are you doing okay? You’ve missed couple cues now, is there something going on?”

Keith shrugged, moving her hand away from him in the process. “Nothing, it’s fine. Just…” he paused, not quite knowing if he wanted the young senior to know about his… admiration for Lance. “Nervous, I guess. Yeah. I’m nervous. This is the first play I’ve ever been involved in and I just don’t want to mess up anything.”

Pidge sighed, reaching to her nose and pushing the middle of her glasses up. “I felt the same way. It’s totally normal. If you tell Coran, I’m sure he’d understand. We’ve all been there, we’ll help you get through it.” She leaned back in her chair with a smirk. “And you’ll have me during the performance so you’ll be just fine.”

Keith snorted, rolling his eyes and returning his attention to the script. He tried to listen to what scene they were in, but they eventually stopped talking. He glanced up to see what the problem was and _shit_ , he’d missed another cue.

Every actor and actress on stage was standing awkwardly, waiting for the light cue to come. Lance was standing with his hands on his hips, facing the back wall where Keith and Pidge were. “Are we done talking now, or do we need to wait a little longer for you to stop?” His voice was filled with irritation. 

Pidge folded her arms across her chest and glared down at Lance. “Yeah, we’re done, stop getting your panties in a twist.”

Her comment pissed Lance off and he shouted, “Why don’t you guys actually DO your jobs so that this doesn’t happen during the show? Or did you forget we’re a week off?!”

Keith frowned. “Calm down, she was just trying to help me, okay?”

Lance rapidly shifted his attention to Keith. “What would you even need help with!? We’re almost to opening and you STILL don’t know your cues! Get it together, okay?”

Keith rose to his feet, anger boiling. “Uh, who made you in charge, McClain? You can’t tell us what we should or shouldn’t know.”

“Shut up, mullet! Like I said, we have a week to fix any mistakes! Why don’t you just can it so we can move forward with the scene?”

“No. I’m sorry that we are a little freaked out by this shit, because in case you haven’t noticed, this is the first production for a lot of people. So you have no right to scream at us when things aren’t going your way!”

Keith didn’t know when he had ended up in front of Lance, but now they were facing off in a screaming match on the stage. It didn’t last long because Coran came up and had to separate them before anyone got hurt.

It was the first time Keith had seen him look so angry. “STUDENTS! Stop! This fight is not helping anyone. We are a team, meant to work like a well-oiled machine. Instead we’re failing under the faintest pressure. Like it or not, we are stuck with each other. I don’t care if you have a rivalry within ranks but when the time comes, we need to put aside our differences to put on a good show. Do I make myself clear?!”

Lance grunted a low response, looking away with his arms crossed. Keith nodded. “Crystal.”

With that, Coran moved off stage to help the stage crew with their own cues. 

Lance didn’t meet anyone’s gaze as Keith turned and walked back up to his chair. Pidge was staring at him, impressed. He shrugged before looking at his copy of the script. “Do you know where we are right now?”

 

The next week passed without too many hitches, aside from the small daily fights between Lance and Keith. Their next big disagreement happened on the last dress rehearsal.

Keith hadn’t missed any cues (yet) and felt pretty comfortable with which switches he needed to flip and which buttons to push. He and Pidge were working well together now, the two synced as though they’d done this together for years.

The biggest stressor for everyone, Keith had noticed, was ironically Lance. Some members of backstage were still missing their cues to bring out props and such. A few didn’t have their costumes on. Lance kept trying to help them get their props or direct them quietly to their spots, but he was increasingly wasting more and more dress rehearsal time. Was this the same Lance who was freaking out about being a week off of opening night?

Coran had been trying to move things along, even with Lance’s interruptions. However, he finally snapped when one of the actresses hurried to her spot onstage with unfinished makeup and Lance insisted she finish it before they moved on. “Lance, we really need to focus on getting through this dress rehearsal so it’s as much like the real deal as possible.”

Lance looked over to Coran, his face falling into a slight frown (and if that wasn’t the cutest thing…). “Well, how can it be the real deal if everyone isn’t fully in costume?”

Coran let out a breath in an attempt to stay calm. “Yes, but we don’t have enough time to stop and make sure every tiny thing is flawless.”

“Coran, the little things matter in a play! It’s the indirect characterization that gives the audience a better connection to them!”

Coran looked exasperated, so Keith rose to his feet. “Lance,” he called, trying his best to keep his voice steady. “Coran is right. We need to stay on target if we want to get out of here on time.”

Lance rolled his eyes as he faced Keith. “But how can the production be perfect if the little things aren’t taken care of?”

Keith frowned slightly. “It’s just a dress rehearsal. Not everything needs to be perfect.”

His words were met with a groan of annoyance. “It kind of needs to be, since this is the last dress rehearsal before the big night!”

“Exactly, so it needs to be treated like the actual play. You won’t be able to pause the play if something needs to be fixed, you need be able to adapt and accept that something happened, okay?” Keith paused for a few seconds, relishing the silence.

Lance opened his mouth to fire something back, but found that he couldn’t think of an answer. He shut it tightly and turned to frown at the stage.

Once again, the distance between the two boys had closed during their argument. Keith stood in front of Lance, keeping his focus on him to see what his reaction would be.

A couple heartbeats later, Keith sighed and murmured, “Why don’t you just try _not_ to control everything and actually relax and have fun, okay?”

Lance still hadn’t said anything, but he was visibly becoming less tense. He let out a breath, met Keith’s eyes, and nodded once.

Keith nodded as well before turning and heading back toward his seat beside Pidge. Behind him, he heard Coran call awkwardly, “Uh… let’s take ten, everyone, then we’ll start back from the top.”

Pidge’s eyes were wide with awe. “Holy shit, Keith.”

Keith raised an eyebrow in question. “What.”

“Just,” Pidge chuckled. “As long as I’ve been here, no one besides Coran has been able to get Lance back to Earth that quickly. How in the hell did you do it?” 

Keith shrugged. “I dunno. I just said what I’d want to hear if I was that worked up.”

“That, my friend, is called empathy. It seems as though you _do_ have a heart.” Pidge snickered as Keith glowered at her and gave her shoulder a soft punch.

 

Theater was over for the day, and Keith was standing on the sidewalk in front of the school waiting for Mike to come pick him up. Which would probably take a while. Everyone had already left, and Keith was just messing around on his phone in an attempt at a distraction.

The door swinging open and closed didn’t bother Keith as he continued scrolling through an app. He only looked up when a familiar voice said rather hesitantly, “Hey, man...”

Should he be shocked or scared that Lance had come to talk to him? Keith wasn’t sure, but his heart rate beginning to pick up speed, so there was that. “Hey. What’s up?”

Lance stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket and kept trying to avoid Keith’s eyes. “I just wanted to tell you, um… thanks for helping me with, I dunno, seeing sense?. I just, I get caught up in the moment, you know?” 

Keith shrugged. “Not really, but I’m starting to.” Lance let out a snort of laughter, and Keith suddenly felt his face begin to heat. 

“Yeah, you might be.” Lance gave Keith’s shoulder a pat. He then stepped away and started walking to his car. “See you tomorrow, Kogane!”

“Uh… later,” Keith called after him pathetically, absentmindedly watching Lance get in his car and leave the parking lot. 

Keith remained silent and still until Mike finally showed up in the car to take him home. One thought echoed in his head for the rest of the evening - as eloquent as ever - _what in the fuck?_


	6. Opening Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, an update a month later! ... Sorry. Anyway, the next chapter will be up earlier than usual. Thank y'all for you comments and kudos!
> 
>  
> 
> A super special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> Disclaimer: The characters depicted belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not of my creation.

Tonight was the big night, and Keith had spent the last few hours making sure all the light and sound operations were running smoothly, helping other tech members get the actors and actresses ready, setting up the props that stage crew would need to move, and all sorts of odd jobs. He felt as though he was being tugged to and fro by an invisible rope.

Time seemed to fly. It was already 6:30, and people were starting to trickle in. Keith finally managed to pull himself away from makeup and costumes. Soon after, he was directed by Coran to check up on all of the actors and actresses to make sure they were all accounted for.

Which was what lead up to Keith knocking on the doors of every room the theater club had reserved for tonight. He knocked on the last door in the hallway before peering in. His heart leapt to his throat when he saw Lance in the room, pacing in front of the costume rack. He didn’t stop, so Keith cleared his throat. “Lance?”

Lance startled, then relaxed slightly. “Oh, hey. What’s up?” 

Keith jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “Coran’s trying to get everyone together. People are starting to come in.”

“I’ll be right out.” Lance turned away, facing the rack. The air still felt tense, so Keith stepped in.

“Um… are you… okay?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Keith frowned. “You don’t seem to be.”

Lance turned to glare in annoyance. “Well, I am. Just tell Coran that I’ll be right out.”

Keith’s frown deepened as he folded his arms across his chest. Lance continued to stare him down for a few seconds, then sighed and turned away. “Don’t laugh at me.”

Keith bit back a sarcastic response. “All right.”

Lance took a deep breath, then quickly blurted out, “I’m-just-nervous-about-this-okay?”

Rather than being amused, Keith blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”

Lance threw his hands in the air. “What else could it mean?!”

Keith held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, I meant… why are you nervous?”

Lance sighed, rolling his eyes. “It’s just… you wouldn’t understand.”

It was Keith’s turn to roll his eyes. “What isn’t there to understand? So you’re nervous. What’s the issue?”

Lance groaned. “It’s just a me thing, all okay!?” Keith felt his eyes widen, and Lance glared at the floor. The air was still for a few moments.

“.... All right, I’m just gonna say it. You have no reason to be nervous. None whatsoever. This is your fourth year in theater, and believe me, you are so talented at this kind of thing. It’s not funny. It takes a special kind of skill to be able to do this, and you have it. Coran believes in you, Pidge believes in you, hell, _I_ believe in you.” Keith paused for a couple of seconds, feeling his face get redder and redder. “You have it in you, you just need to believe in yourself.”

For once, Lance didn’t seem to have any words. Keith was trying to avoid looking at his face. The silence grew to be awkward, and Keith eventually just turned and started walking out of the room.

But before he could exit the threshold, he felt a hand clasp his forearm. Keith glanced up at Lance and felt his chest constrict when he saw the soft expression on the other boy’s face. “Thanks. For… y’know.” Keith nodded, and he swore his face was as red as a fire truck. Lance let go of his arm in favor of giving Keith’s back a soft smack on the back. “See ya down there, mullet!” He called over his back, grinning widely, before continuing on his way.

Keith gave half-hearted wave in response, before slumping against the wall. It was so cool compared to the flaming red of his entire face. Good God, he was so gone for this guy.

 

When Keith finally calmed himself down enough so he only looked _slightly_ flushed, he raced through backstage and to his spot beside Pidge. Once he was settled, he watched the stage as the lights dimmed throughout the theater and brightened on stage. The curtains unrolled to reveal a minor female character setting up tea. Eventually, one of the main male characters walks onstage and starts conversing with her.

When the actress exit, Lance came sauntering in, shaking hands with the other guy and looking to the audience as he spoke. But his gaze was kind of angled…. Keith didn’t realize Lance was making eye contact with him until the other boy was grinning (and that was so unfair).

Keith swallowed nervously, and leaned over the controls to try and focus on what he needs to do. Even so, he couldn’t hide the small smile forming on his lips.

 

After an hour and a half, the curtains rolled closed to signify intermission. Keith stood and stretched, letting out a low groan of pain.

Pidge reached her arms above her head and rolled her shoulders beside him. Then she rested an elbow on the table holding the controls. She was smirking up at him as he sat down. “Okay, Keith. Gimme the details.”

Keith frowned at her. “What details?”

Pidge chuckled. “Oh, come on. You obviously thought I didn’t notice?” Keith was silent as confusion continued to cloud his face. “I saw the way Lance was looking at you whenever he got the chance. I’ve also seen the way you watch him. It’s vaguely creepy. The hell’s up with that?”

Keith froze, feeling his blush beginning to make yet another appearance. On his face. “Umm… what do you mean?”

Pidge folded her arms across her chest, smiling smugly. “I think you know exactly what I mean, Kogane.”

Keith was silent, staring ahead at the curtains. Nope, no way. He was NOT having this conversation with Pidge, of all people. She was his… partner. His work buddy. You don’t discuss personal matters with your work buddies, right?

“Tell me what’s happening with you and Lance or I’m gonna ask him.”

Keith froze, turning to Pidge slowly. “You wouldn’t.”

Pidge’s face shifted into a smirk. “Try me.”

Keith continued to glare at Pidge, while she glared back. A minute passed. Two minutes.

Growling with irritation, Keith broke eye contact with her and faced forward. “You are an evil little gremlin.”

Pidge shrugged. “Not the first time I’ve heard that.” She looked at Keith expectantly.

With a sigh, he turned to her again. “So Coran sent me on a manhunt 30 minutes before the show started to get everyone together, so I was going through every room theater uses, right?” Pidge nodded. “So I found Lance in the farthest one and he looked pretty anxious. I just basically told him he’s good enough to be here.”

Pidge flashed her glasses knowingly, smirk still plastered across her face. Keith frowned at her and faced the stage again.

People were starting to file in (had it already been ten minutes, holy shit) and take their seats again. Soon after, the curtain was rising again, depicting two of the love interests sitting in a drawing room of sorts. Lance and the other male lead hurried in and tried to talk to the ladies (one of which who was the niece of Coran, apparently). Once again, when they faced the audience, Lance’s eyes fell upon Keith, who frowned at him in response.

When he turned away, Keith saw a glint out of the corner of his eye. Pidge was wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, and it took all of Keith’s willpower to not groan loudly and disturb the play.

 

Later on (but not soon enough), the second act was over. The audience was applauding while those onstage were giving their bows. Next was the rush to get out of the theater, and it was like trying to pour a pound of flour into a small funnel (don’t ask him how he knew that). Then, parents and friends were congratulating the actors, actresses, backstage, everyone who had a hand in the play.

Keith was swept through the crowd like it was a sea, and he fought to get out of it before it carried him out of the school. Grumbling in annoyance, he leaned against the wall, waiting for the hall to thin out.

It was no surprise to Keith that he had no parents to praise him for flipping switches and pressing buttons. Karen and Mike had gone on a “date night” and told him to take the bus home. But as he scanned through the crowd, he couldn’t help but feel a little envious.

Keith’s eyes eventually found Lance, and his admittedly huge family. He had enough to spare Keith a family or something. Bitter feelings clawed at his gut, but he looked away from it all before he began to wallow too deep in self pity. That could be saved for another time.

With nothing better to do, Keith pulled out his phone. It’d take a while for everyone to finally leave so he and the rest of the theater group could tidy up the auditorium.

Clean up took ten minutes with everyone helping, so Keith didn’t have to hang around for God knows how long.

As he waited at the bus stop, honks sounded off, startling Keith. He glared at the driver who laid a lead hand on the horn and was shocked to see it was Lance. He grinned and waved as he drove past.

Keith stared after him in confusion. When the hell had he done that got Lance to be so friendly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, yes, but the next is pretty damn long. See you next time!


	7. Celebrate Good Times, COME ON

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the title, but I had to.
> 
> Super special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not of my creation.

The next two days passed in similar hectics, with Saturday being more calm. The following week had three more shows, and then they were done.

After the last production, Coran announced they would be celebrating their success at the local bowling alley. The seniors (excluding Keith) organized rides because most of them had cars. Pidge had volunteered Keith and herself to ride with Lance, along with Coran’s niece (Allura’s her name, he finally learned).

Keith made a mental note to never tell Pidge anything again. Because this was the disaster that would result. He was designated to be stuck in a small car with not only his crush, but someone who knew about it (albeit the smallest details) and some poor girl who’d be subjected to some ridiculous shit.

Needless to say, Keith was dreading Monday (but at least they were on break for Thanksgiving).

 

Around two in the afternoon on Monday, everyone met in the front of the school so Coran could do a headcount, then separate into their respective groups.

Keith filed into line beside Pidge, hands stuffed into his pockets and frown creasing his brow. Pidge elbowed Keith playfully, waggling her eyebrows at Lance’s back. Keith’s hand found its way, unsurprisingly, to his face, in an attempt to cover the flush seeping into his cheeks but also express his irritation with her (otherwise known as a facepalm).

The group followed Lance to his car, got in, and followed the line of vehicles waiting to get out of the school parking lot.

“Geez, this place is so empty!” Lance exclaimed, in an attempt to make conversation. Keith bit back a sarcastic remark while Allura responded instead. The two began an easy conversation while Keith just looked out the window.

It took a little while for everyone else to figure out how to drive and get the hell out of the lot, but they finally managed to. Then they were on their way.

Keith was staring out the window for most of the ride while Lance, Pidge, and Allura shared words about their weekends (which was just one day but they apparently didn’t care).

Keith was zoning out when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced to Pidge, who was trying and failing to hide a shit eating grin. He looked over to the front seat and saw Allura watching him. He flushed in embarrassment and looked to his feet. “What was that?”

“Have you ever been bowling?” Lance’s voice asked cheerfully. Keith shrugged, but then spoke up.

“I dunno. If I have, I don’t remember when.”

“Well, then you’re gonna have so much fun. Bowling is awesome! I play with my younger cousins when they visit, and….”

Keith let himself get lost in Lance’s voice (it was actually pretty nice - comforting) and continued to watch the world pass quickly through the car window.

The rest of the ride didn’t take too long. Within a few minutes, they were parked and getting out. They went inside and awaited the rest of the crew. Keith still wasn’t keeping a conversation with those who were there, but it didn’t really bother him. 

Everyone else showed up within a minute or two of each other. Coran came in last, then checked to make sure everyone had made it in. When they were inside at the front desk, he pulled out an envelope filled with money to fork over in order to pay for shoes and food.

Once that was taken care of, everyone migrated toward the end of the alley, taking over the last several lanes. Coran was giving a pep talk and outlining the rules, but no one seemed to be focusing. They were supposed to stick with their assigned group, much to Keith’s dismay.

It’s not that he wasn’t happy or excited about the arrangement, but it just felt like they were somehow being forced together. By some twisted fate or whatever. It didn’t feel natural. Well, to Keith at least.

His thoughts were interrupted by Pidge looping her arm through Keith’s. She was pulling him to their lane, where Lance and Allura were already slipping on their bowling shoes. The three of them started the first game while Keith busied himself with tying his own. 

The next hour and a half passed pretty uneventfully. They all took breaks in between games to eat and rehydrate. Keith was actually getting pretty good with the bowling ball - he thought he didn’t even need the kid’s bumpers anymore.

The next ball Keith rolled turned out to be a strike. With a grin, he pumped his fist into the air before turning to smirk at Lance. “Who’s the best now, McClain?”

Lance rolled his eyes, taking his bowling ball and tossing it toward the pins. He turned to face Keith as it knocked them all over, grinning smugly. “Still me, Mullet.”

“Okay. As much as I am enjoying the romantic tension going on here, it’s my turn.” Pidge shoved herself between the two of them, going to send her bowling ball off.

Keith frowned before turning to head toward their table. _To get some pizza,_ he told himself, readily ignoring the flush staining his cheeks.

He sat and carefully took a slice. It was slightly warm, and as Keith took a bite, Coran’s voice summoned them all again, claiming to have an idea.

The drama teacher smirked, twisting one of the ends of his mustache. Once everyone was surrounding him, he announced, “How would you all feel about a tournament?!” Their corner suddenly grew loud as a chorus of cheers and affirmation sounded. Coran grinned. “All right then! We’ll be playing against each team. I’ll tally up the total points each team has after their game. The one who has the most points wins!”

A few seconds of shouting later, some people hurried to Coran to help figure out the bracket. Keith just turned and headed back to the table so he could finish his pizza.

Pidge plopped in front of him, smirking. Keith narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you want?” She shrugged. 

“Oh, nothing. Just excited for this thing,” she paused, leaning back in her seat and threading her fingers behind her head. “It’s gonna be fun.” 

With a roll of his eyes, Keith angled his gaze to where Lance and a couple other people were writing on a giant piece of paper ( _where the hell did THAT come from?_ ). Then, they were taping it to the table and after that, the boy came running. He looked determined as he stopped by their table. “All right, gang, we’re up first, facing Ruby’s team. Let’s go!”

 

Another hour had passed when they were finally getting into the semi-finals. Keith’s team had been dominating, mostly thanks to Lance, but he guessed he contributed in some ways, too. (Like that spare in their third match that ended up putting them ahead enough to win the game. Lance was so excited, he even gave Keith a hug. Though he supposed was more of that awkward bro hug, but he was still counting it.) In fact, they were neck and neck with a team on the other side of the bracket that they would most likely be facing.

Now, however, it was quiet as Allura set herself up for a roll. She’d gotten two strikes so far for the last set of points. If she got the third one now, it’d put them way over their opponents. With a quiet exhale, she expertly angled her bowling ball toward the center of the pins. A couple seconds passed before the pink and blue ball collided with them, knocking the pins all over the place like empty bottles.

Allura hollered excitedly, turning to Lance as he screamed and gave her a high five. He whooped in victory, and Keith smiled slightly.

“God, Keith, stop drooling.” Pidge’s annoyed yet amused voice cut through his tunnel vision and he turned away from their celebrations.

“I wasn’t drooling,” he muttered, glaring at the nachos on the table.

“Mmhmm, suuure,” she chuckled as she grabbed a chip and dipped it in the liquid cheese. Keith crossed his arms, turning away from her. But turning away was looking at Lance again.

And he was making his way over with Allura. He slapped his palms on the table, seeming to be riding on an adrenaline high. “All right, you guys. This is it. We’re in the finals against Korra’s team. If we can win this, we’ll get the prize AND bragging rights as bowling legends! So let’s get going and kick some ass!” They all cheered and Lance brought them closer. “Okay, I have a new strategy. Pidge’ll go first, then Allura, then me, and Keith will be last one. Ready?”

Allura and Pidge nodded, but Keith felt his eyes widen. No, he couldn’t. He was the worst one. Why was Lance putting him in the best position? He must have looked worried ( _no shit_ ) because when everyone had separated to get their bowling balls, Keith felt a hand on his arm.

“Why’d you put me there? I’m not the best, okay. I can trade with Allura, hell even you, for fuck’s sake. Do you honestly think you can win with me at the end?” Keith refused to meet Lance’s gaze, anger making him resistant. Though why exactly he was angry, he had no idea.

A few moments of silence passed before the hand around Keith’s arm squeezed slightly. “Yes, I do.” He glanced at Lance in shock. “You’re really good, I think you can do it.” Lance paused before patting him hurriedly. “And if we do end up throwing our victory down the toilet, at least you’ll be there to flush.”

Keith was dead silent before he burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard, he didn’t stop for at least ten seconds. When he finally calmed down, he pressed a palm to his forehead. “That was the most ridiculous speech I’ve ever heard. What the fuck, Lance.” Keith was able to glimpse Lance’s grin.

“Cheered you up, didn’t it? Now, you ready to win this thing!?” Keith rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide the smile growing on his face.

“Fuck yeah.”

The game passed by quickly, and Keith was feeling pretty confident. Korra’s team was good, but he felt like him, Lance, Pidge, and Allura were dominating. When the 10th round rolled in, Coran called out the scores for each team. Korra’s team was ahead, but by a few points. Pidge kicked it off with a pretty bad round - she had to use three rolls to knock all their pins down.

Allura was up next, rolling two strikes, but then getting only nine pins down. She along with the rest of her team screamed in fury - the last one had been so close to falling.

Then Lance got three strikes in a row, getting their team ahead by a few points. On his third strike, he whooped loudly, did a cartwheel, then fucking DABBED. At least, that was what Pidge told him it was called.

Now, it was Keith’s turn. He took his dark red ball, let out a breath, then sent it down the lane. He knocked down eight pins, making the next spare easy. As he waited next to the ball return, Keith took a deep breath to steady himself. They were tied now - the last bowler on the other team had fucked up his last roll and it ended up knocking down eight pins. If he could get a strike, they’d win .

When his ball came, he heard the people fall silent from their words of encouragement. Keith let out the breath, and without meaning to, looked up and locked eyes with Lance. He grinned wide, flashing a big thumbs up. Keith blinked slowly at him, before turning and going to his end of the lane.

He steadied himself, taking a few calming breaths. Then, focusing and aiming as much as he could, Keith hurled the ball to his target. He felt anxiety seize him as he watched the ball roll steadily toward the pins. Finally, the ball collided with the first pin, the force knocking the rest down easily.

The air was still for a millisecond before a cacophony of noise exploded through his ears. Screams of victory sounded and Keith suddenly felt light as air. He yelled loudly to show his excitement and relief, then suddenly felt his toes touch the ground.

Keith suddenly became acutely aware of Lance’s arms holding tightly onto his waist, his own hands gripping his shoulders. Keith’s eyes grew wide and he felt his face suddenly flush darkly. Lance looked a little shocked himself by what he’d just done, but it didn’t last. He smiled widely at him.

“I knew it.”

Keith frowned, tilting his head slightly in question.

“I knew you could do it.” Keith smiled back and opened his mouth to say something. However, Lance beat him to the punch. “We’re a good team.”

If Keith’s face didn’t feel warm before, now it felt like he was on fire. Not knowing how to respond, he nodded, glancing away quickly. “I suppose so.”

As quickly as the moment happened, it was over. Lance almost seemed as if he’d come to his senses and quickly stepped back. “I-I mean… all of us were. Are.” Wait, was he… was he blushing too? Keith’s eyes widened again. Lance quickly cleared his throat, turned and left, heading for the bathroom. _Oh._ Keith followed him with his eyes, wrapping his arms around his waist and trying to not let Lance's retreat bother him too much.

Suddenly, Pidge and Allura were right there, shrieking in victory. They hugged him tightly, and almost picked him up too. Keith let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and started whooping along with them.

Soon after, Coran approached with a makeshift trophy and handed it to Keith (because Lance hadn’t come back yet), while the rest of his team gripped his arms.

Keith grinned, and at that moment, he felt like he finally had true family.

 

It was the end of the night, and they were finally picking up and starting to leave. Keith stood on the curb, thinking about how this was the best night he’d had in awhile. He was still holding onto the “trophy” and honestly had no idea where the hell he was going to put it.

Keith had just finished telling Shiro where he was, then felt an arm loop through his and pull him toward the building. He was squished next to Allura with Pidge in the middle. The fifteen year old had somehow taken the trophy and was holding it up.

Allura lifted her hand and her phone was on the front-facing camera. She smiled brightly, looking into the camera. “Team selfie!” she announced before snapping a few shots in a row. She pulled it down and proceeded to look through them, with Pidge helping her pick the best one.

Keith managed to get the “trophy” back, smiling slightly, and then he was in front of Lance. His blue eyes widened and he glanced away quickly. Keith frowned, then sighed. “Here,” he mumbled, shoving the piece of shit toward him. “You deserve it.”

Keith refused to meet Lance’s gaze (if he even looked at him) and felt the weight lift from his hand. He glanced back to find Lance looking at it in surprise. Then he smiled and looked back at Keith. “Thanks, mullet.”

Keith rolled his eyes at the stupid nickname, but couldn’t help the growing smile.

“Come on, lovebirds! We gotta get back!” Keith glowered in Pidge’s direction as she and Allura began walking back to Lance’s car.

Lance cleared his throat. “So… you coming?” He asked awkwardly now, fiddling with his keys.

Keith shook his head. “Nah, Shiro’s coming to get me.”

Lance’s mouth flew open and he gasped. “What?!” He quickly looked over Keith’s shoulder and called to Allura and Pidge. “Hold on! Takashi Shirogane’s coming?!! We gotta meet him!!” He exclaimed, starting to bounce on the balls of his feet excitedly.

Keith felt his eyes widen slightly in surprise before he reached to touch Lance’s arm tentatively. “Uh… it’s okay. He was just going to pick me up.” 

Lance looked to Keith, pouting. “ _Please,_ Keith? It’ll be quick, I promise!”

And okay, how in the fuck was he supposed to say no to that face. With a sigh, Keith gave a single nod. Lance threw his fist into the air and whooped loudly.

The girls began making their way back. Pidge sidled up beside Keith with a raised eyebrow. “You’re weak,” she whispered before yelping in pain when Keith kicked her shin.

Aaand, perfect timing. Shiro’s car pulled into the parking lot and pulled up to the curb. Keith leaned over and tapped on the window. It rolled down slowly. “What’s up?” Shiro's voice asked curiously.

Keith sighed. “You might wanna park. We could be a while.”

 

Once Shiro had parked and walked over, Keith began introducing him to the three. “So, this is my foster brother, Takashi Shirogane. You know him as Shiro. And that’s Allura,” he gestured to her and she gave a little wave and a smile, “that’s Pidge,” she held up two fingers in a peace sign (Shiro gave her the sign back), “and this is Lance.”

Lance looked so excited as he extended his hand forward, clearing his throat again. “Lance McClain. It’s really nice to meet you, Shiro!”

Shiro glanced at Keith for a couple of seconds (during which Keith flushed profusely; thank _God_ it was dark) before reaching with his prosthetic arm and shaking Lance’s hand. “You too, Lance.”

Lance honestly looked like a kid on Christmas morning, he was beaming so brightly. “Keith’s told me about you-” Shiro let out a sharp breath when Keith elbowed him in the ribs. “... You all.”

Allura smiled politely while Pidge rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he has.” She looked at Keith pointedly. “He’s never told us about you, though.”

Shiro gasped in mock hurt, turning to Keith. “I'm offended, li’l bro.” He gave Keith’s back a few good-natured pats before smiling at the three. “Well, it was certainly nice to meet you all, but Keith and I have got to get back home. You know, parents.” He waved as Keith began to drag him to the car.

They climbed in and left without a word to each other. Keith was a little nervous about what Shiro would say until his older brother finally broke the silence. “Well, they seemed nice…” Keith glared at him. “... Especially _Lance_.”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Keith growled, crossing his arms and facing the passenger window. 

“Aw, you know I live for the juicy deets, Keith.”

Keith groaned. “I cannot believe you just used the word ‘deets’ so normally.” 

“You’re changing the subject.” Shiro’s voice had a singsong tone to it, and he chuckled.

“So what if I am?!” Keith snapped. He glared out the window again as a heavy silence filled the car.

“Keith… did something happen?”

“Yeah. It’s just… I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Alright, fair enough. You’ll tell me eventually though, right?” Keith nodded. “Tomorrow okay?” Another nod. “Okay.”

They arrived home and Keith immediately went to his room to go to sleep. But his thoughts kept him up until well past midnight. Eventually, he passed out in a troubled slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter this time around. Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Thanksgiving Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y’all! I’m so sorry for this late chapter. I had writer’s block, and it was like I had my destination, but didn’t have the map. And I was stressing over college apps, so there’s that. Then I finished it! But the story doesn’t end there. My laptop decided to give up and shut down for forever, after three years of my tenderly loving ownership and care. Therefore, chapters will take longer cause it’s a bitch to type stuff out on google docs on your phone. I apologize, but here, take this in exchange!

Streams of light were disturbing Keith’s slumber. God, this always happened. He’d just be sleeping, comfortable, then suddenly light. It was the most irritating part of the morning. Now that winter was coming, Keith was able to sleep in longer and for that, he was grateful.

It was impossible to go back to sleep by that point, so the teen sat up and rubbed his face with a groan. He rolled off of his bed and walked to Shiro’s room, seeing his foster brother working on homework. Keith let himself fall onto the bed, disturbing Shiro’s work.

“Hey!” His exclamation of protest went ignored by Keith. With a sigh, Shiro went back to typing whatever he was working on.

Keith groaned. “It’s Thanksgiving break, you have the whole entire week to work on your shit.”

Shiro rolled his eyes, but closed his laptop and scooted closer to Keith. “Fine, I’ll take today off and we can go do something.” Keith nodded, before moving to get up. “But! There was a particular thing you said you’d tell me today….” 

With a sigh, he plopped down again in front of Shiro. “I know, and I know you want me to tell you, but it’s just… ugh, forget it. So as you know, we had our cast party last night.” Shiro nodded. “Well, something happened… with Lance, I mean. We were in a competition between teams of four. Pidge, Allura, and Lance were on my team. Well, we got into the finals, and after everyone had their turn, I was up. I had to get a strike in order to win, and… I did. Before I knew it, everyone was around me, and _Lance_ , of all people, fucking picked me up and twirled me.” Keith paused, glancing away as his face grew hot. “It was… nice. But he left for the bathroom in a hurry and I think it just made things awkward between us.” Keith glanced up at Shiro through his bangs and was surprised to see the look of deep thought on his older brother’s face. “So… do you know what that means?”

“Hmm…. I don’t know about guys, but it sounds like he was either caught up in the moment, or he actually likes you.”

Keith flushed darker at that. “Really?”

Shiro shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know for certain with guys, so take my advice with a grain of salt.” Keith nodded slowly, processing. When he seemed to be done, Shiro stood. “Now, go get ready! We’re gonna have the best reunion in history.”

“ _Late_ reunion. It’s Tuesday.”

Shiro scoffed. “All the more reason to get up and going! Go on, just wear whatever! You’re gonna have the time of your life.”

Keith rolled his eyes, unable to hide the small smirk growing on his lips as he turned and headed back to his own room. 

 

Shiro and Keith had ended up going to an arcade a few towns over and goofing off the whole day. They went to dinner afterward, headed home and just hung out until the two couldn’t keep their eyes open any longer.

Keith was sleeping when it happened.

He had slept for an hour or so when a single scream jerked him to awareness. Keith threw off his covers and raced to Shiro’s room. He opened the door to find his older brother sitting up, trembling and his shirt damp with sweat.

Keith entered slowly, moving to sit by Shiro. “Nightmare?” he asked quietly, but loud enough to let Shiro know it was him. He nodded. “Can I hug you?” Another nod. Keith moved closer and held Shiro as tightly as he could. After a few minutes, he looked up. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Shiro seemed to hesitate, but nodded. “I was back in there. In the passenger seat. I knew it was coming, but I couldn’t move. I-I couldn’t stop it. Th-Then there was… bright light, the screech of tires...” Shiro choked on the last word, trying not to cry.

Keith rubbed his back gently. “It’s okay. You’re at home, Takashi, you’re safe. It’s okay to cry.” Shiro tightened his grip around Keith (which was constricting his breathing, but Keith wouldn’t dare say anything about that) and started to sob quietly.

God, Keith hated this whole thing. What those people had done to his strong, brave, amazing brother. They had been drunk and thought it’d be a good idea to drive around town. Apparently, there were multiple counts of them breaking laws, but the stupid police did nothing. Nothing.

Shiro was riding back to campus with some of his teammates after going to dinner to celebrate another victory. The car stunk of sweat, but everyone was laughing and bonding as they drove home.

It didn’t last.

Keith was woken at 12:18am by Mike to drive to the hospital. When they went in, Shiro was unconscious, the front of his jersey spattered with blood. His right arm was was bandaged, but looked disturbingly misshapen. Those drunkards had crashed head on into Shiro’s car. It was all over the news. Apparently, the cops had to get Shiro and his teammates out of the car with the Jaws of Life.

The driver had been killed on impact, the guy in the backseat behind him was gravely injured, and the guy behind Shiro was still wounded, but he had been the one least impacted. On the rush to the hospital, the guy behind the driver’s seat had died while Shiro and the other guy were knocked out.

When the two were checked in, a doctor quickly determined that Shiro needed surgery on his arm immediately. Keith and his foster parents showed up soon after and sat with Shiro after they’d changed him into a hospital gown and while they were prepping for surgery.

It would be a few days before Shiro finally woke up after the whole ordeal. He was still a little shaken and out of it, so the doctors did their best to explain what had happened. The car accident, his teammates… his arm. It had been so fragmented, according to the x-ray, that Shiro’s doctors didn’t think it would be able to recover and return to normal functioning.

When Shiro looked down to see his small, bandaged limb, he began crying. It wasn’t the quiet crying either. He was wailing, moaning, grieving the loss of his arm and his entire football career. Keith had started crying too, almost unable to handle seeing his big brother in so much pain. When Shiro had calmed down a little, Keith went over and gripped his other arm tightly, looking up at him with his tear-filled eyes. Then Shiro moved over so Keith could climb in and they just held each other. Similarly to how they were now. 

The cold of Shiro’s prosthetic was getting to Keith, but Shiro had pulled away now. “C-Can you stay here? Until I fall asleep again?” Shiro looked a little better, but his eyes were still puffy and red and so sad, so Keith nodded. Shiro reached to his nightstand to grab a chewable melatonin supplement before he crawled back under his covers. Keith lay next to him on top of the blankets and began to hum a random song quietly. That usually helped Shiro fall asleep faster.

Sure enough, Shiro was snoring softly next to him within twenty minutes. Keith glanced at his sleeping face, relaxed and worry free. With a sigh and a thought similar to _fuck it_ , Keith grabbed an extra pillow and blanket and settled on the floor next to Shiro’s bed. 

 

The next day and a half passed without anything eventful. Shiro worked on his homework while Keith lounged about and procrastinated on his own. This peace was broken mid-afternoon on Thursday.

“Boys! Are you ready to go?” Keith cringed as the she-devil’s voice wafted sweetly toward them. 

Keith looked to his older brother to answer her, so Shiro called back, “No, not yet!” Keith mouthed and motioned to him about clothing. “What should we wear?”

“Something nice! Oh, and make sure Keith is actually wearing something presentable!”

Keith bit back a groan of irritation, resorting to rolling his eyes instead.

Shiro shook his head, smiling in amusement. “You heard her. Let’s go.”

Thirty minutes later, Shiro and Keith were waiting for Karen to come down with Mike so they could go. She eventually came down and ordered everyone in the car to leave for her family’s house.

Traffic wasn’t actually too bad so they got there at a reasonable time. One of Karen’s brothers called her out on being on time for once, and they dissolved into an argument. Then her own father came in and joined in. Keith rolled his eyes in Shiro’s direction. It was clear where she got it from.

For the next hour, Keith alternated between hanging out with Shiro (who was talking with the family and helping to cook) and wandering through the house. He didn’t really care for his cousins; they were younger than him and ridiculously annoying (seriously, how their parents dealt with them was beyond his comprehension). More often than not, Keith found himself in random rooms on his meanderings, a different one each year. Their house was huge, with lots of unnecessary rooms and the like. Which would explain how it could hold Karen’s widespread family.

Keith was exploring a room containing a wide variety of clocks - he’d learned not to question this sort of thing anymore - when Shiro knocked on the door frame to announce his presence. “Dinner time! Hope you’re hungry,” he chuckled, turning away to head out again.

Keith ran a hand through his messy hair with a groan. “We have the same thing every year, Shiro, it’s nothing to be excited about.”

The two began an easy, light-hearted banter on the way to the dining room. Most everyone was seated, aside from those who were bringing food out to the table. And God, did it smell good (just because he complained about the food, it didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it - the family only ate these foods once a year, twice if they were lucky). 

Karen’s father led a prayer, everyone holding hands. Keith just observed, eyes flitting about. There didn’t seem to be a single person with their eyes open (aside from Shiro). He finally finished the stupid thing after a minute and a half. And so, the feast began.

 

“Karen, how’re the boys doing? School, girlfriends….?” Keith had been enjoying a slice of turkey until the question soiled the taste. He moved onto something else, trying to ignore the response. 

“Oh, they’re good. Takashi, how’s school been?” Of course Karen avoided Keith. She usually did that.

Shiro shrugged. “It’s been okay, I suppose. Just trying to stay motivated is my goal this year,” he joked, earning a couple laughs.

“What about you, Keith?” Keith stopped shoving mashed potatoes into his mouth for a second, focusing on the family member who’d asked. Mouth still full, he just shrugged.

“He’s doing just about as well as usual…” Karen answered exasperatedly. “However, he’s only gotten into one fight so far this year… An improvement,” she muttered under her breath, but Keith had heard. He did his best to focus his negative emotions toward her as she continued rambling. “Although, he finally joined something this year.” Murmurs of interest spread throughout the table and Keith soon felt most of the table’s eyes on him. “He’s doing the… what do you do again?”

Keith tried his best not to glare at her. “I’m the light board operator. I turn the-” he gave up when Karen moved onto the next topic - girlfriends (ugh).

“Takashi, I’m sure all the ladies must be all over you! Surely you must have a girlfriend!” Shiro shrugged in response to the family member.

“I’m just focusing on school for now. I’ll worry about dating when I graduate,” Shiro smiled, acting polite, but Keith could tell that topic had made him feel a little awkward.

“How about Keith?” The same family member asked, gazing expectantly at him. 

Again, Keith shrugged. “Not really. All of the girls at my school are pretty annoying. I’m just gonna date in college.”

Karen rolled her eyes, and Keith could practically see the words on the tip of her tongue - _why can’t you be more like Takashi?_

The discussion finally moved away from him and Shiro, so Keith quickly finished eating to get away from them. After a little guess and check, Keith found the clock room he’d been in before. 

A little while later, Shiro found Keith in a different room, filled with children’s toys. He cleared his throat to announce his presence, and held out a plate of pie to his little brother. The two ate in relative silence until Keith spoke.

“I hate being in the closet. Why can’t I just tell them as a giant ass ‘fuck you’?” Keith grumbled miserably.

Shiro responded immediately. “If one of the relatives find out, Mom will definitely find out somehow. So it’s best to just… not. For your sake.”

Keith nodded. “Well, if I’m out to someone I’m glad it’s you” Keith said, offering Shiro a small smile. Shiro grinned and wrapped his left arm around Keith, squeezing him tightly.

The rest of his break was mostly lazing about until the weekend before school started up again. Keith spent his time between frantically trying to finish his homework and thinking about seeing Lance again after a whole week of… not seeing him.

He may have been a little excited despite the nerves.


	9. Like Rivals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait - the good news is that the Christmas season brought a new laptop to me! I got right to work on this and hope y'all enjoy. Happy holidays and happy 2018!
> 
> As always, super special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!

Shiro had to go back to his dorm on the Saturday before his classes started up again, leaving Keith with the task of avoiding Karen (harder than you might think). He managed to make it through, which meant that the week every student dreaded most was imminent: finals week. God, Keith hated his school for putting him through that.

After that total shitfest, Keith learned his class schedule was switching around. Ugh, even more pain. 

On his first day of the new trimester, Keith trudged through his first three classes (English, Environmental Science, and Anatomy and Physiology), lunch (with awkward glances featuring Lance and knowing glances featuring Pidge), and fourth period (Graphic Design) before stepping into his fifth period: psychology. Keith had heard this class was pretty note-heavy so he wasn’t all that excited about it. He had just been trying to fill up his schedule, in all honesty.

Keith was drawn out of his thoughts by a familiar voice behind him. “Keith?”

He turned to glance behind him and saw Pidge staring at him in shock. He felt a small smile pull at his face when he saw her, but was startled into a look of shock when another voice drew attention to itself.

“Wait, _Mullet_ is in this class?” Keith visibly cringed at the nickname. Of all people, Lance _had_ to be in one of of his classes. This was going to suck thoroughly.

Once attendance had been taken, the teacher (Keith didn’t bother learning his name for now) let the class do some bonding games. Lance flung himself across the table, which Pidge has forced them both to sit at along with some other person from theater, and groaned. “Why are you in this class?” 

Keith stared at him incredulously. “Last I checked, a student could be in whatever class they want, so I could ask the same of you.”

“Don’t bother me with technicalities, this is just awful,” Lance muttered the last part before flinching as Pidge smacked him. 

“What’s your deal?” She questioned, brow furrowing in irritation. 

Keith nodded. “Yeah, what’d I do to you?” He crossed his arms, frowning at Lance. “We had a moment and everything.”

Lance glanced away from Keith. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Keith grumbled, mostly to himself. 

The rest of class dragged on with Lance ignoring him in favor of talking to Pidge and the other person while Keith tried to do some homework for another class. 

The next couple weeks passed in similar ordinance until auditions for the next play, _As You Like It_ , began. Keith took that opportunity to rant quietly to Pidge.

“I mean, what did I even do to piss him off?! I thought we were becoming friends and then he just stopped trying. What the fuck?” Keith whispered angrily to her, facing forward in his seat again and glaring at the seat in front of him.

Pidge shrugged. “I dunno. Why don’t you just talk to him?” 

“Because he’ll just push me away, that’s why!” 

“How do you know if you don’t try?”

“I’ve been trying! What do you think I do every fifth period?!” Keith dragged his hands over his face, letting out a low groan. 

Pidge sighed in exasperation. “Dude. Keith. Just fucking talk to him. And do it in a more private place, he doesn’t really open up to others in public.”

Keith glanced at her like she was joking. She raised an eyebrow, daring him to question her. Letting out a breath, he gave in. _After auditions today,_ he decided. _I’ll confront him then._

 

At 6:00pm on the dot, Coran declared the first day of auditions to be over. Keith immediately rose from his seat and hurried to the dressing rooms offstage before his brain could figure out what he was doing. After asking around, he ended up in front of a bathroom door. Raising a fist, Keith knocked loudly. He could feel some pairs of eyes on him, but he didn’t particularly care at the moment.

“Just a sec!” Lance called out, and Keith stood with his arms folded across his chest until the lock clicked and the door swung open. Lance’s expression suddenly became guarded and irritated when he saw who it was. “What do you want,” he grumbled, trying to push past Keith. 

Before he could, Keith had taken a hold of his wrist and began trying to drag him away. Lance’s protests fell upon deaf ears as Keith led the way to that room with the clothes rack in it. When he opened the door, he pulled Lance in, closed the door quickly, and faced him. Lance was glaring at him. “What the fuck is the meaning of this, asshole.” 

Keith could barely keep the venom from his voice. “Can’t we just talk?” 

“No,” Lance stated shortly before moving to open the door. Keith blocked it, easily deflecting Lance’s hands as he tried to reach the door handle.

Eventually, Keith managed to get a hold of Lance’s wrists. “What the fuck is your problem?” Keith asked darkly, meeting Lance’s glare. 

“Nothing!” Lance shrieked, trying to kick Keith’s shins and escape. He managed to get a hit in, but Keith just shoved him away.

He lifted his hands up to signal he was done with this pushing and shoving. A few moments passed where neither moved a muscle. “Sure doesn’t seem like it.”

That clearly pissed Lance off more, because he charged at Keith, furious. Keith assumed his fighting stance and met him head-on. They fell to the floor and wrestled for a little bit. Lance managed to get the upper hand a few times, but was immediately shut down by his opponent. Keith eventually pinned Lance down, who was still looking fired up. “Lance! Calm down!” Keith exclaimed, struggling to keep him from squirming away. His words managed to still Lance’s attempts at escape. “I just want to talk.”

Lance finally gave in. “Fine. Will you let me up?” Keith cautiously let go of Lance, moving to get off of him. He sat beside Lance, who actually didn’t move aside from sitting up as well. A few seconds passed before Lance grumbled, “So?”

Keith… actually hadn’t thought this far ahead. He was surprised Lance had conceded. He swallowed nervously. “Um… where do we stand? Relationship-wise.”

Lance whipped his head to look at Keith, eyes wide. Keith felt his face light up with a blush and he quickly looked away. “I-I mean… friends. Acquaintances.” He glanced up at Lance, who was still staring at him with his huge blue eyes. Keith credited the pink tinge to Lance’s cheeks as his imagination - there was no way he was interested in _that_ kind of relationship. 

“Uh… you want to be friends?” Lance asked quizzically. Keith had not been expecting that. Confusion morphed on his face as he regarded Lance with uncertainty. 

“Yeah?” 

Lance still seemed skeptical. “Don’t you hate me?” 

“What?!” That threw Keith for a loop. “What makes you think I hate you?”

Lance threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know! You always were kind of standoffish and stuff toward me, even when we were forced to hang out for _The Importance of Being Earnest_.” 

Keith sighed, rubbing his temple. “Yeah, well, I’m like that to everyone. At first. Once I get to know someone and like them, I’m more friendly.” 

“Like with Pidge?” Keith nodded.

Silence hung between them for a minute or so, Keith trying to figure out what to say next. 

“Okay-” Keith started before cutting himself off when he realized Lance had started to say something as well. Lance motioned him to continue. “So, I thought after the cast party, we would be on good terms. Why have you been such a douche the past couple weeks?” 

Lance scoffed. “You were a douche first.” Keith rolled his eyes. “But… I mean, you seemed a little weirded out by… what happened… so I didn’t really want to impose on you, I guess. I don’t know. I guess it might have been a defense mechanism or something?”

Keith chuckled. “You actually pay attention in Psych?”

Lance rolled his eyes, smirk evident on his face. “Of course I do. Sometimes.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence for a little bit before Keith broke it. “So… we’re friends now?”

Lance grinned, lifting a hand and forming a fist. “Fuck yeah.” Keith smiled himself before bumping his own fist with Lance’s. 

“Now, what were you gonna say before?” Lance’s answer was cut off by the text tone for Keith’s phone going off in his pocket. Confused, he pulled it out and saw a text from… Mike? He checked the time and was shocked to find that twenty minutes had passed. “Holy shit, we were in here a while,” Keith murmured, standing. 

“What is it?” 

“My fo- my dad just texted wondering where I am. He said he’s been waiting fifteen minutes.” Keith typed out a response, hearing shuffling and Lance saying, “Damn…”

Both boys rose and hurried to retrieve their stuff from the theater. They exchanged quick farewells (Lance waved at him with a smile and said, “See ya later, Keith!”) and went their own ways. 

Keith climbed in the passenger seat and buckled up before Mike began to drive off. He was quiet for a minute or so before asking, “What took you so long? I’m usually the one late, not the other way around.”

Keith shrugged. “Just talking to some friends.”

“That’s nice. Good for you,” Mike commented before turning on the main road. Keith nodded, facing the window. He couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot and planned to text Shiro what happened with Lance the minute he got home. The rest of the car ride with Mike was silent, but that was okay. They both didn’t mind the quiet.


	10. The Planning Committee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, readers, I'm really sorry for leaving you in the dark. I've gotten a lot busier because the end of the school year is nearing and thus, more homework. However, I've set up a plan for myself for writing this fic so I can continue to deliver content at a more structured pace instead of having random spikes of muse and posting sporadically. Check it out at the end of the chapter. In the meantime, please enjoy!!
> 
> As always, very special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> Disclaimer: The characters depicted belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not of my creation.

The week after Keith’s confrontation with Lance was when Christmas break began. Rehearsals for _As You Like It_ started the first Monday of the break, which progressed pretty uneventfully for the first two days. Wednesday, however, brought the planning of a Christmas party for drama club after rehearsal was over, with Lance leading the discussion. They’d all gathered in the drama classroom, where there was a whiteboard for Lance to write on while people threw around some ideas of what to do.

“Okay, who should host this year? Remember, you need have a pretty big house so we can all fit.” A few hands rose, and while Lance wrote down the names and said he’d check them out, Keith leaned toward Pidge.

“What exactly is the purpose of this?” Pidge stared at him incredulously.

“Have you never been to a Christmas party, you heathen?!” she exclaimed quietly, staring at her friend with wide eyes.

Keith shrugged, trying not to fidget under her scrutinizing gaze. “S’not my fault I’ve never been invited to one.”

Pidge suddenly leaned toward him and gripped his forearm tightly. “Well, I’m gonna make this one to remember,” she muttered (Keith wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or him), and immediately let him go and shot her hand up in the air.

Lance noticed and motioned her to speak. “I say we do secret Santa this year,” Pidge declared, earning a chorus of agreement from the group while Lance grinned widely.

“Aw, hell yeah. Great idea,” he paused deliberately. “Luckily, I had the same idea.” With that, he whipped a stack of half sheets of paper from his bag, taking one before sending the papers around the circle. “You know the drill: fill in the blanks and we’ll toss them in... here,” he reached toward a desk and grabs a sparkly hat, “then we’ll draw a name.”

Even before the stack got to him, Keith was nervous. He didn’t know anyone besides Pidge, Allura, Hunk (who’d finally joined the department after Lance begged him to tech for the play), and Lance. It was highly likely he’d end up drawing someone he didn’t know, and someone he didn’t know would draw him. Which meant that he might disappoint someone with their gift and end up with yet another person on the long list who didn’t like him, and then he’d have to avoid them for the rest of the year and have to-

Keith’s thoughts were interrupted as he received the sheet of paper with some criteria on it. Swallowing his anxiety for the time being, the senior began to fill out the sheet. Name, grade, favorite color, food, animal, hobbies, the usual stuff. He was a little hesitant to write more personal stuff, such as his love of martial arts and his favorite animal (hippos), but ended up writing it anyway.

Lance calling attention to everyone drew Keith in again, focusing on the boy in front of him. “Okay, we’ll draw at the end. Any more ideas besides secret Santa?”

Soon, there was a pretty good list Lance had written down on the whiteboard, with some stars and arrows surrounding the more popular suggestions. Someone suggested watching movies, some people wanted to go ice skating, and some wanted to just eat and talk. Keith wasn’t really contributing much, not really knowing what the boundaries for requests were.

Pidge suggested a couple things, but she straightened her posture when she thought of the best idea. Like before, her hand shot into the air. Lance called on her, and she waited intently for people’s side conversations to dissipate before announcing, “One word: D&D.”

The room erupted once again with noise, excitement creeping into many voices. Lance knocked loudly on the whiteboard as if to call order, struggling to keep his grin contained (Keith wished he didn’t). “So it seems we have a consensus on that front,” he remarked, quickly scrawling “D&D” on the board with a bunch of stars surrounding it. Keith had no idea what that was, but figured he’d find out at the party (or just ask Pidge sometime soon).

“Okay, we’ve got a good list. Let’s take a vote.” After a few rounds of voting, the two activities were narrowed down to ice skating and D&D. “Which means we’re gonna be staying up pretty late, if it’s anything like we’ve done before,” he continued, glancing at Pidge and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Pidge smirked, and Keith was afraid of what was going to happen. “You know what that means?!”

“Sleepover!” The entire group cheered loudly before falling back into their own conversations. Lance started knocking on the whiteboard insistently to get their attention back.

“Okay, so we’ll need food. Who’s gonna bring what? Remember, if you call it, you have to bring it.” Lance began to write stuff down as people began to announce what they were making, ranging from mashed potatoes to popcorn to… Spam? Everyone giggled as someone loudly proclaimed they were bringing a can of Spam. Lance grinned, writing it down. “Gotta keep that tradition, Justin, I like it.”

Once the noise had mostly died down, Keith looked over the list and tentatively raised his hand. Lance positively beamed at him (Keith needed to keep his fucking composure and not weird him out, holy Christ) and pointed to him. “I can bring hot chocolate mix and marshmallows.”

“Oh, my God, that’s one of the best ideas I’ve heard so far,” he stated simply, turning and writing it down on the whiteboard. He faced the front again. “Does that look good? Any other ideas?” No one seemed to need anything else, so Lance concluded the meeting to be over. “Don’t forget to grab ONE slip from the hat before you leave! See you guys tomorrow!”

With that, people began to shuffle out of the classroom, snagging one of the secret Santa papers before leaving. Lance quickly took a picture of the whiteboard before erasing it, discussing with the people who had volunteered their houses the best times for him to come check out the property (he was so dramatic - God, it was adorable).

Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura hung back, making idle chatter waiting for Lance to finish. When he finally approached the group, everyone had gasped and quickly drew away from Keith like he had the plague. Keith stared wide eyed, scared by the enormity of what he’d said. Lance quirked an eyebrow at the three, before Pidge loudly exclaimed, “First you’ve never been to a Christmas party, now you’re ASKING me what- what Dungeons & Dragons is?!”

Once he heard those words, Lance himself pulled away harshly. “What kind of life have you been LIVING, Mullet?” Keith still didn’t say anything, but Lance continued anyway. “The kind of life devoid of imagination, substance, and MAGIC?!”

Keith clenched his jaw nervously. “I-It’s just a game, rig-”

“It’s not just a _game_ , Keith,” Pidge started, glaring at him with mock hostility.

“It’s a lifestyle,” Allura finished, putting a hand to her heart.

A few seconds passed before the four dissolved into a severe giggle fit, while Keith visibly relaxed. “Wow, no wonder you’re all in the drama club. You didn’t have to be so dramatic about that.”

The giggles ceased, Lance blinking owlishly at Keith. “Keith, I cannot believe you just stereotyped us.” He threw his head back, his hand clutching his chest. “I’ve been mortally wounded! Help me, Hunk, thou art who I wish to see with my parting breath.” With that, he collapsed in Hunk’s arms. He laid still for a few seconds before the two burst out laughing. Keith couldn’t help but join in with the group.

Lance picked himself up and put his hands on his hips. “Well, Keith, we’re making this the best damn Christmas party you will attend in all your life. You will weep tears of joy when you witness the shenanigans that are gotten into at Christmas party-D&D-sleepovers.”

Keith rolled his eyes, unable to hide the small growing smile on his face. “I’m sure I will, Lance.” As he turned his attention back to the conversation Pidge and Allura were having about the party, Keith couldn’t help but feel a pair of eyes boring into the back of his head, and he couldn’t tell if it was in a good or bad way. He ignored the feeling, instead discussing with Pidge how to create a character. She mentioned that the day before a D&D session with new players, there’s a character building session, which would be Friday during rehearsals.

“Okay, let’s draw the papers. Sound good, y’all?” Lance suddenly said, giving the hat a shake. They each took turns pulling out slips of paper, with Hunk not revealing his secret Santa because his person was in the room.

Now, Keith reached into the hat and rifled around a little to thoroughly mix the papers together. There were only two left, which stressed him out slightly. After a few more seconds, he picked a random one and pulled it out.

“Who’d you get?” Pidge asked, leaning forward expectantly with the other three awaiting the answer eagerly behind her.

Keith opened the folded paper and slowly began to frown. “It’s someone called… Carey Fang.”

Before Keith could finish his thought, Allura cut in excitedly. “You have Carey? I love her!”

Keith glanced at her nervously. “Then… could you help me figure out a present for her? I don’t know her at all.”

Allura nodded. “Sure thing! We can all go shopping together before rehearsal on Friday if you want.” Keith nodded slowly as the people around him voiced their approval enthusiastically. Allura grinned. “I can add you to the group chat so we can make plans,” she said as she pulled out her phone and tapped to the contacts icon. “What’s your number?”

Keith recited it simply and moments later, he got a text including four different numbers and a message saying “Welcome aboard, Keith!” And while he had his phone out...

 _6:08pm_  
**Me:** Rehearsal’s over. Are you coming to get me?  
( _6:11pm_ ) **Shiro:** I don’t think I can, Keith. I’m sorry. It’s been a rough day  
**Me:** It's okay, I’ll figure something out. I’ll be home as soon as I can  
**Shiro:** Okay. Stay safe  
**Me:** You too

Keith slipped his phone back into his pocket and turned to his friends (what a weird concept). “I kind of don’t have a ride… could one of you maybe take me home?”

Allura was about to speak up, but Lance cut in. “I’ll take you,” he stated simply. “Do you need to get going?”

Keith nodded. Lance hoisted his bag onto his shoulder, took the last slip of paper from the hat, and motioned for Hunk and Keith to follow him. “See you guys tomorrow!” He called to Allura and Pidge as the group left the room.

Lance and Hunk began chatting about something while Keith followed behind them. He couldn’t stop thinking about that morning. Shiro had been in his room the whole morning. Had he eaten anything? Why didn’t Keith realize it? _Fuck._

Keith was drawn out of his thoughts when a car’s lights blinked and Lance went around to the driver’s side of it. Hunk moved to open the passenger door, so Keith climbed into the backseat. Lance started the car and waited a few minutes for the car to warm up. He turned to Hunk. “Did you know it’s supposed to snow tonight?” They dissolved into that conversation as Lance drove out of the parking lot. Keith stared out the window, trying to mentally make Lance drive faster.

“Keith?”

Keith glanced up at the rearview mirror to meet Lance’s eyes. “Yeah?”

“I don’t quite remember how to get to your house? Which way do I turn now?” Keith looked around to figure out where they were. Well, shit, they missed a turn because he was zoning out.

“We missed a left, but you can keep going on this road. There’s another way.” Lance nodded, focusing back on the road. His face seemed to be tinged pink, but Keith ignored it in favor of leaning over to see where they were going.

It was silent for a minute or so while Keith directed Lance back onto the road they needed to be on. Afterward, Lance asked, “So what do you plan on doing for the snow day before rehearsal tomorrow?”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. If Shiro is up for it, we’ll probably go on a walk or something. Go to a coffee shop and catch up.”

Lance smiled widely. “Do you think he’d mind if me and Hunk crashed that?” He let out a little whine when Hunk jabbed his side with his elbow. “I’m just kidding, I swear! Anyway, that sounds like a lot of fun!” He paused. “Do you think you could ask him if he wants to go ice skating on Saturday? Ow!!” Lance flinched as Hunk elbowed him again. “What?”

“You can’t just invite people to a party for your club!” Hunk scolded gently. Lance rolled his eyes.

“Yes I can, I’m directing this thing! Which way, Keith?”

“Right. Then it’s the first left and my house is on the right. When I get out, turn left at the end of the road and you’ll be on the main road again.”

“Thanks! Anyway, I’m directing it, so I decide who goes. And I’m inviting Shiro!” There was a pause where Hunk gave Lance an unimpressed look. “Okay, and he’s my hero! Is that too much to ask to hang out with your role model?” Hunk raised an eyebrow. “Dude, that was literally freshman year, I knew I had no chance with him. Besides, he came to all my shows that year, what did you expect me to think?”

Keith finally saw his house and told Lance so. He quickly opened his door, called a “thanks” over his shoulder, and hurried into the house.

Keith leaned against the door, holding his head in one hand. God, he didn’t know if he could do this. Lance had basically admitted to having a crush on his older brother freshman year. _Fuck my life._

Remembering Shiro, Keith quickly kicked off his shoes and hurried to his room. He knocked quietly on the door and saw Shiro playing Minecraft. His stress game. He was focused, but he seemed more on edge than usual. Keith quietly moved to sit on Shiro’s bed. After a few moments he asked, “How long have you been playing?”

“After I texted you. Figured it’d keep my mind off of stuff until you got here.” Shiro paused the game and faced Keith. “Who gave you a ride?”

Keith glanced away, struggling to hide the hurt expression on his face. “Lance.”

Shiro’s face grew concerned, and he shifted closer. “What happened?”

Keith folded his arms across his chest. “We should focus on you first. Why didn’t you come to me this morning? I was here all day until I had to go to rehearsal.”

Shiro sighed. “I just- I didn’t really want to talk about it.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “So you just wallowed in those shitty feelings all day? You know that’s not healthy. I thought the therapist-”

“Keith, stop it. It was just an all around bad day for me. I get those sometimes. I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want to think about it. Just drop it, okay?”

Keith frowned and looked away. Shiro picked up his controller again and began playing again while his younger brother watched. He was mining right now, with torches everywhere so he wouldn’t get taken down by any monsters. After ten minutes or so, Shiro spoke up again. “So what happened with Lance?”

Keith didn’t say anything for a few seconds, contemplating whether or not he should say anything. He sighed. “Lance took me home, but he talked with his friend Hunk on the ride home. You came up in conversation, and he basically admitted to having a crush on you freshman year.”

“Whoa, what?” Shiro paused the game and focused his attention on Keith again. “He did?” Keith nodded. Shiro was silent for a few moments before murmuring, “That escalated quickly.” Keith nodded again. “What even prompted that?”

Keith threw his hands in the air. “He asked me what I was doing for the snow day tomorrow and I said I was going to walk with you to the coffee shop! Then he asked me to invite you to the drama club Christmas party thing and he said he saw you come to all his shows freshman year, and that was why he kind of liked you!” With a frustrated growl, Keith flopped on the bed with his hands over his face.

Shiro was silent for a while, thinking this entire thing over. “So he asked what you were doing tomorrow for the snow day?”

Keith glared at him through his fingers. “THAT’S what you got from that conversation? Not the fact that freshman Lance was attracted to you and that you’re his role model apparently?”

Shiro lifted his hands in surrender. “No, I got that. But the important thing is he asked what you were doing tomorrow. For a snow day.”

Keith raised an eyebrow in question. “And? What’s your point?”

Shiro smiled. “He asked because he wanted to see what you were up to. To see if you were free.” When Keith didn’t say anything, Shiro sighed in exasperation. “He wanted to hang out with you tomorrow!”

Keith immediately sat upright, staring at Shiro with wide eyes. “R-Really?” Shiro nodded, smile growing wider. “I thought he was just being polite….”

Shiro sighed. “Why don’t you invite him to meet us there tomorrow and see what he says?” Keith nodded silently, reaching for his phone and pulling it out. He opened it and saw he was bombarded with texts from the group chat (strange word).

 _6:07pm_  
**Unknown Number 1:** Welcome aboard, Keith!

 _6:32pm_  
**Unknown Number 1:** Are you guys ready to make plans for our shopping trip??  
**Unknown Number 2:** Fuck yeah  
**Unknown Number 3:** Yep!  
**Unknown Number 4:** I was born ready, baby!!  
**Unknown Number 1:** Okay, what time on Friday works for everyone? If need be, we can drive straight from the mall to rehearsal. Who’s the designated driver?  
**Unknown Number 3:** I think it’s between you and Lance since I don’t have my own car and Pidge can’t drive yet.  
**Unknown Number 2:** Shut up at least I’m a 15-year-old senior while y’all are old fuckers  
**Unknown Number 4:** lmao  
**Unknown Number 1:** lmao  
**Unknown Number 3:** lmao  
**Unknown Number 3:** Also, I’ll probably go, but I need to buy my present tomorrow since my person is one of you. Is that alright?  
**Unknown Number 4:** Of course, buddy! And I have to ask my mom if I can use the car though, so Allura might have to be it. Can your car fit 5 people?  
**Unknown Number 1:** Yes, but it’ll be a tight squeeze. I’ll see if I can get the SUV instead.  
**Unknown Number 4:** Ok, same  
**Unknown Number 3:** If we need an SUV, I might be eligible as a designated driver. I’ll ask my mom.  
**Unknown Number 2:** You old people and your asking permission from your parents. In my day, we just took what we wanted  
**Unknown Number 4:** It’s okay to be jealous, young Pidge ;)  
**Unknown Number 2:** Shut your quiznack, Lance  
**Unknown Number 1:** LMAO CORAN ALMOST SAW THAT!!!  
**Unknown Number 2:** lol  
**Unknown Number 4:** lol  
**Unknown Number 3:** lol  
**Unknown Number 3:** Okay, I can’t. She has a doctor’s appointment that day and needs it to drive down there.  
**Unknown Number 4:** It’s okay, Hunk! My mom said yes!  
**Unknown Number 1:** Really?  
**Unknown Number 4:** No  
**Unknown Number 2:** *eye roll emoji*  
**Unknown Number 4:** You younguns and your typing out emojis. In my day, we just sent the actual emoji  
**Unknown Number 3:** You took the words right out of my mouth, Lance  
**Unknown Number 2:** Wrong, you would never say something like that  
**Unknown Number 3:** Okay yes, but I was thinking it  
**Unknown Number 4:** And that’s why I love you, buddy  <3  
**Unknown Number 3:** <3 <3 <3  
**Unknown Number 1:** Aww, that’s sweet! ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** ew ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** Your cold techo heart cannot begin to fathom our love, Pidge ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** <Unknown Number 2 sent a link: https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.tenor.com%2Fimages%2Fbbcf50e44a3cdca2c660bfb5a9ea4bc9%2Ftenor.gif%3Fitemid%3D7516900> ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** OMFG IM CRYINGGGG ****  
**Unknown Number 3:** LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** where is the lie tho ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** Okay, okay, moving on... ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** While we get the car situation squared away, which time works best for you guys to be picked up? I think it should be earlier in the morning, like 9am. ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** ALLURA. HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST SUCH A THING. I NEED MY BEAUTY SLEEP. ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** What do you suggest then? ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** 11am ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** Lance! Traffic will be hell because it’s close to lunch! ****  
**Unknown Number 3:** Well, why don’t we compromise on 10am? ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** Great idea ****  
**Unknown Number 3:** Thanks! ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** Np ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** Ugh, fine. ****  
**Unknown Number 3:** I’m going to your house at 9:30, so you’d better be up, Lance. If not, you know what will happen. ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** OKAY OKAY I WILL ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** Do I even want to ask ****  
**Unknown Number 3:** I’m gonna tickle him awake if he isn’t up. ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** NOOO WHY WOULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS, HUNK?? ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** Omfg you guys ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** So, 10am? ****  
**Unknown Number 3:** Yep! ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** Alright ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** Ughhhh fiiiine ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** What about Keith? ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** Oh, right! Where is he? ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** I bet he’s brooding in his room ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** Understandable ****  
**Me:** I wasn’t brooding ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** Also understandable ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** What were you doing then?? ****  
**Me:** Chilling. It’s winter break for a reason ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** He’s just chilling, in Cedar Rapids ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** LMAOOOO ****  
**Me:** … I dont even want to know ****  
**Me:** Can you guys also say who you are? You’re coming up as Unknown Numbers ****  
**Unknown Number 2:** Sure. This is Katie aka Pidge ****  
**Unknown Number 4:** It’sa me, Lance ****  
**Unknown Number 3:** This is Hunk! ****  
**Unknown Number 1:** This is Allura ****  
**Me:** Okay, hang on ****  
**Me:** We’re good now, thanks ****  
**Allura:** Does 10am on Friday work for you, Keith? ****  
**Me:** Yeah ****  
**Allura:** Great! ****  
**Me:** Pidge, I didn’t know your name was Katie ****  
**Pidge:** Yeah, Katie’s my name but these bozos (excluding Allura) nicknamed me Pidge a few years ago.  
**Lance:** Hey!  
**Hunk:** Fair assumption.  
**Lance:** Hunk!!  
**Pidge:** where is the lie tho  
**Allura:** lol  
**Hunk:** lol  
**Lance:** lol  
**Lance:** And fuck you, Pidge  
**Hunk:** I’d like to take this moment to let you all know that Lance chucked his pillow at me just now, then proceeded to apologize profusely and now we’re cuddling on his couch.  
**Lance:** ;) ;) ;) ;)  
**Pidge:** I did not need to know that  
**Allura:** I did and Im love   

Keith frowned at his phone, then looked up to Shiro. “So, should I ask him in the group chat or in private?”

Shiro shrugged. “Did you want just him to come or everyone in the group chat?” Keith silently turned this over, before opening Lance’s contact.

 _6:56pm_  
**Me:** Hey, so I talked to Shiro and he’d be up for you to meet us at the coffee shop tomorrow.  
**Lance:** OMG I was just kidding!  
**Me:** Oh…  
**Me:** So you don’t want to come then?  
**Lance:** Psh, of course I do!! Also, is it cool if Hunk comes? He’s sleeping over so it makes more sense for him to come along, and it’ll be more fun.  
**Me:** Yeah okay  
**Lance:** Cool beans, man  
**Me:** … Cool beans?  
**Lance:** Y’know. Coolio, sweet, awesome sauce, great.  
**Me:** Oh  
**Me:** I’ll let you get back to your sleepover. That was all I wanted to tell you  
**Lance:** Okay! And don’t forget to ask about the ice skating! It’s super important!!  
**Me:** Okay

Keith closed the app quickly, putting his phone on silent to make sure no notifications make his phone buzz or sound off. “He said okay. He’s bringing a friend. And he told me to ask about the party. Specifically the ice skating part.”

Shiro sighed. “He did say that he had a crush on me freshman year, right?” Keith nodded. “And that he looked up to me?” Another nod. “Well, I think it’s pretty harmless. I’ll go. Besides,” he gently elbowed Keith, wiggling his eyebrows. “I’ll be sure to put in a good word for you. I’ll be your wingbrother.”

Keith groaned, rolling his eyes, but couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

….

The two brothers played Minecraft well into the night, interrupted only by Mike asking them to come eat dinner thirty minutes later. Karen wasn’t back from work yet, so it was relatively quick. They were working on their mansion in creative mode when Mike checked in on them again. “You boys staying up?”

“Yep,” Shiro responded, not taking his eyes off of the screen. “Just some winter break shenanigans.” Keith hummed in agreement, staying focused as well.

Mike nodded. “Your mom just went to bed, so don’t make too much noise. And try not to stay up too late, all right?”

Both boys murmured in agreement and Mike left them for the night.

About an hour later, Keith’s phone began buzzing like crazy. He set his controller down and opened it.

 _11:59pm_  
**Lance:** ITS SNOWING  
**Lance:** GUYS  
**Lance:** ITS FUCKING SNOWING WHY ARENT YOU PEOPLE MORE EXCITED  
**Me:** Maybe some people are asleep?  
**Lance:** Then why aren’t YOU sleeping, mullet?  
**Me:** I’m keeping my brother company.  
**Lance:** Oh, okay  
**Me:** What are YOU doing up? I thought you needed your beauty sleep  
**Lance:** Don’t you use my own words against me. But I stayed up to wait for the snow. Now I’m gonna watch it for a little bit before I go to sleep.  
**Me:** Sounds fair.

Keith looked up from his phone. “Hey, Shiro. It’s snowing. Do you wanna go out?”

Shiro looked at him, paused the game, and opened the curtain. Sure enough, snow was pouring from the sky in big clumps, quickly covering the ground in a thin white blanket. Shiro turned to him with a grin. “Hell yeah.”

Keith quietly opened the door to the bedroom and tiptoed downstairs. He silently grabbed his and Shiro’s coats, along with hats and scarves for the two of them. The brothers bundled up, pulled on their boots, and slipped out the back door.

Keith led the way to the front of the house and stood under the streetlamp as the snow began to fall heavier. He took out his phone and began to videotape the falling snow around him, slowly moving the camera around him. When he finished it, Keith opened Lance’s conversation and sent the video to him.

A few seconds later, the typing icon appeared.

 _12:11am_  
**Me:** <Keith sent a video>  
**Lance:** YOU’RE OUTSIDE????  
**Me:** Yeah  
**Lance:** Why????  
**Me:** Because I can and I want to  
**Lance:** Oh my god, that is the best idea I’ve heard all day.  
**Me:** That’s a little strange, given it’s 12 minutes into today. Give it the rest of the day first

Keith shut off his phone when Lance didn’t respond immediately and stood with Shiro under the lights for a minute or so. He began walking down the street, his boots crunching softly while Shiro hurried to catch up.

Keith loved doing this. Whenever it snowed, he hated waiting until morning to experience it because everything was disturbed by the cars and people with early mornings. He preferred to see the snow in its most pure form, to be the first to mess it up with his footprints. They were usually covered by morning, but he knew.

Keith was drawn away from his thoughts by a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his phone and saw a message from Lance.

 _12:18am_  
**Lance:** <Lance sent a photo>  
**Lance:** Fine, will do, mullet.

Keith unlocked his phone quickly and opened his messages. Lance had sent him a selfie, where he was smirking with a hat pulled over his forehead and a gloved hand making a peace sign. There was some snow clumps on his hat, the little bit of hair that peeked out from under it, and his scarf. His cheeks and nose were tinted pink from the cold and his blue eyes seemed to sparkle with enthusiasm. He looked… _absolutely adorable._

Keith fumbled to open his front-facing camera and gave a thumbs up with a small close-lipped smile. His hat was basically white now, and his hair was a little wet from melted snow, but some had still clumped somewhat for the photo. His face was pink too (and he hoped Lance would attribute that to the cold). Before he could change his mind, he sent the photo with the message,

 _12:20am_  
**Me:** <Keith sent a photo>  
**Me:** Sounds good to me :)

….

 _3:12am_  
**Lance:** It’s not that I don’t like snow or whatever, it’s just I like the rain more  
**Me:** And I didn’t say that was a bad thing I just said I liked snow more  
**Lance:** No, I know! But like  
**Lance:** <Lance sent a gif>  
**Lance:** Rain  
**Me:** Yes but like  
**Me:** <Keith sent a gif>  
**Me:** Snow  
**Lance:** Valid point  
**Lance:** Im just gonna leave it at that because who can top that whole conversation thing up there?  
**Me:** I dunno who?  
**Lance:** Rhetorical question, buddy  
**Me:** Eh  
**Lance:** Okay, my body is going to hate me in the morning for staying up this late.  
**Me:** Same Im exhausted  
**Lance:** then WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE  
**Me:** Cause we’re still talking and Im pretty sure its rude to fall asleep during a conversation  
**Lance:** Oh yeah, etiquette is a thing  
**Me:** Yep  
**Lance:** If you wanna go to sleep, just let me know  
**Me:** No its okay.  
**Me:** I like talking to you  
**Lance:** oH SHIT I FORGOT SOMETHING WHEN I WENT OUT BRB REAL QUICK

 _3:29am_  
**Lance:** OKAY IM BACK  
**Lance:** Oh shit, I just saw that text!! It was like one of those texts that were sent at the same time and I was in a rush  
**Lance:** But  
**Lance:** You do?

 _3:52am ___  
**Lance:** ROOD  
**Lance:** YOU BROKE YOUR OWN LAW  
**Lance:** WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO???  
**Lance:** Yeah you probably fell asleep so I’ll stop spamming you  
**Lance:** And  
**Lance:** For the record  
**Lance:** I think I like talking to you too, Mullet :)  
**Lance:** Okay, good night. Sleep tight you smol angry human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've decided to put an end to posting at such random times. I have a schedule now, and I will be posting bi-weekly. This chapter doesn't count, because I will be posting on Sundays and I just wanted to get this chapter out in order to feel that I was productive this break. But, yeah, basically bi-weekly updates (might be shortened to weekly depending on how fast I'm writing and/or when summer rolls around) on Sundays. That means the next chapter will be posted on April 15th. On another note, I hope you enjoyed the texting parts! I wanted to try out something different and I had a lot of fun writing it. Thank you for reading and happy spring holidays!


	11. Snowballs and Coffee Dates (or is it?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my beta, AaronAlive!
> 
> Disclaimer: The characters depicted belong to Dreamworks and Studio Mir. They are not of my creation.

“Keith. Time to get up.”

A gentle shake brought Keith out of his slumber and he blinked slowly at Shiro. He let out a quiet groan of annoyance and flopped back onto his pillow. “What time is it?” 

“10:30. How late were you up after we came in?” 

“Um… a few hours.” 

Shiro sighed. “Well, did you have a time you wanted to get going?”

At this point, Keith had snuggled back into his blankets and was ready to fall back sleep. “Where?”

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “The cafe? Where we were meeting Lance and his friend?”

At that, Keith sat up with wide eyes. “Shit,” he murmured, rolling off his bed and trudging to his closet. “Um… let’s go with 11.” Shiro nodded and left so Keith could get dressed. 

As soon as Shiro closed the door, Keith practically pounced on his phone and opened it hurriedly. He navigated to the messaging app and saw the texts he got from Lance. _Goddammit._

He’d fallen asleep waiting for Lance to get back to him. 

Keith quickly scanned the messages sent, before feeling his cheeks begin to burn. Lance had said… that. And he called him… that. Keith’s chest seemed to squeeze tightly, making it harder to breathe. He quickly pushed that aside and began texting.

_10:37am_  
**Me:** Hey, sorry for falling asleep on you. We never really figured out a time for the cafe, does 11 work for you?

Keith shut his phone off and proceeded to slowly get up and start getting dressed. He didn’t really want to get out another set of clothes, so he just slipped on the ones he’d worn in the middle of the night. It wasn’t like he’d worn them all day or whatever, and they still smelled fine. 

As Keith was pulling on his second layer of shirts, his phone buzzed. Keith immediately picked it up when he’d finished yanking the rest of the shirt on and read the message.

( _10:40am_ ) **Lance:** It’s a good thing I’ve been awake for a while, or I would have to suggest later. Either way, yeah, sounds good! I’ll tell Hunk.  
**Me:** Okay  
**Me:** By the way, the cafe we’re going to is the old one, with the barber shop pole in front of it. Shiro and I hate the new one.  
**Lance:** Haha, sounds good, buddy :)

Keith ignored the way his heart quickened its pace and the pull of his lips into what was probably a dorky smile. He hurriedly turned his phone off and shoved away those stupid feelings before meeting Shiro by the door.

….

It never really took that long for Keith and Shiro to walk down to the The Olde Coffee Shoppe, given the fact that they lived on that side of town. They just needed to cross a few streets and walk past some pretty old shops before reaching it.

The cafe had been in existence longer than Keith had lived there, and on the first snow day of that year, Keith and Shiro walked to the shop bundled up similar to how they were now. It was Keith’s first good memory of this family and Shiro, and it continued to hold its reputation of quality coffee. (Despite its terrible aesthetics. Seriously, a barber shop pole? This wasn’t the 50’s.)

The bell jingled as the door swung open and the brothers walked in. The barista glanced over at them with a vacant expression before repeating his usual greetings. “What would you like today?” 

Keith and Shiro ordered (a medium mocha and a large vanilla latte respectively) and paid before standing at the counter waiting for their drinks. Right as the to-go cups slid over, the bell above the door jingled again and a cold rush of air blew through the small building. Keith turned, holding his hot coffee, to see Lance and Hunk walk into the shop. 

Lance grinned as he saw Keith and hurried over to him. “Guess we weren’t that far behind,” he chuckled, before dragging Hunk to the counter to order their own drinks.

Once Shiro took his cup, he led the way to a table in the corner next to the window. As they sat down, Shiro wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Keith’s eyes widened and he felt his face begin to flush, trying desperately to make Shiro stop. It took a solid shove to finally get Shiro to not be an irritating brother. At that point, Lance and Hunk were walking over with their cups and sitting across from the two. 

Keith didn’t know what to say to get a conversation going, so he just sipped his coffee and willed someone, anyone, to say _something_. A few seconds later, Lance introduced Hunk to Shiro and all three began discussing school and which teachers were still there. Keith added his input a few times, but didn’t contribute further. 

Eventually, Hunk turned to Shiro. “I’m sorry if this seems a little insensitive, but I really like your prosthetic. It’s more technologically advanced than the recent ones I’ve seen. How did you manage to get one?” 

While Shiro’s expression shifted a little toward shocked, Keith instantly grew tense. He didn’t really like people who asked about his brother’s arm, so he prepared himself to fight off the questions that were sure to follow.

Shiro shifted nervously, glancing at his arm and his other hand going to the back of his neck to rub the thick scar in a way he usually did to show he wasn’t really comfortable with a situation. “Uh, thanks, I suppose? I got my first one complimentary of the hospital because, you know, you can’t function normally with one hand.” He clenched his fist anxiously. “But I got this one during physical therapy. I liked it a whole lot, so my therapist let me continue using it and eventually pay to keep it.”

Hunk nodded in interest, before delving into a whole other conversation about mechanics and engineering. When Keith finished his cup, he glanced around at everyone’s cups. They all seemed empty for the most part, so he nudged Shiro. “I’m gonna get more coffee for everyone.”

Shiro nodded, but Hunk quickly stood up. “I can do that. Um, hey, Shiro? Do you want to come up with me?” 

Shiro looked a bit taken aback, but nodded nonetheless. “Sure. This round’s on me, boys.” He chuckled to himself as he rose from his seat, receiving a good-natured punch from Keith.

Once the two were standing in line, Keith glanced at Lance. “Well, that was a little weird.”

Lance shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” he said, ending it there. He spent a few seconds studying Keith before saying, “By the way, don’t worry about Hunk’s obsession with his arm. He’s just super into tech stuff like that. He wants to do that for his job.”

Keith glanced up in confusion. “Make prosthetics?”

Lance laughed. “No, no. Well, maybe? I don’t know. He just wants to be an engineer. Mechanical stuff is like, his thing. It’s great.” Keith just nodded before staring at his empty coffee cup. 

He glanced at Hunk and Shiro, who were now waiting for their drinks and seemed deep in conversation. 

“So, you excited for D&D tomorrow? Have you thought about your character at all?” Lance leaned forward eagerly, smiling wide. 

Keith kind of shrugged. “Not really? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” 

Lance waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, that’s fine. We’ll cover that tomorrow. I’m talking like backstory, personality, strengths, flaws, you know. Stuff like that.” Keith shrugged again and Lance groaned dramatically. “Okay, we need to get that squared away. Here,” he whipped out his phone and pulled up an app for notes before glancing up at Keith expectantly. “Lay it on me.”

Keith blinked, looking down at his nearly empty cup of coffee. “Uh… I guess maybe he’s some sort of warrior guy?”

Lance pouted. “Aww, you don’t want to be a magic guy?” 

Keith’s expression shifted to confusion. “Am… Am I supposed to be the magic guy?”

“No, but I thought you’d want to be a magic guy!” Lance explained, gesturing with one hand. “Most of our party’s gonna have magic people so it’s fine, but what’s another, y’know?” 

“Not really…” Keith mumbled as Lance began typing on his phone. He glanced up when he was finished, as if waiting for more. 

“Oh, um, he’d be really good at knives I think, and swords. He’d also spend a lot of time training because he wants to be the best he can for his teammates. He’s probably pretty loyal to them, but really impulsive and sticks to what he knows.”

Lance finished writing, then started tapping his chin. “Hmm… sounds like your character’s more of a fighter and is chaotic good. Does that sound alright?”

Keith sighed. “Sure. I still don’t really get what that means, but sure.”

Lance smirked. “Don’t worry, mullet boy, I know my way around DnD, you don’t have anything to worry about.” 

Keith gave Lance an unimpressed look as Hunk and Shiro came back to the table and slid the four cups to each person. They were talking about Hunk’s plans as an engineer and stuff like that, none of which Keith understood. Shiro seemed to get it, so Keith didn’t really care at that point. 

Not long after they got their new cups of coffee, the four boys got up and left the cafe. They were about to go their separate ways, but Lance suddenly stopped. He turned to Hunk and said, “We can’t leave without having done anything in the snow. That’s totally not appropriate snow day activities.”

Shiro glanced at Keith, who shrugged, then focused on Lance again. “We’re fine with that.”

Lance pumped his fist in the air, then immediately pulled it back to steady his coffee cup.

Once it settled, he began to lead the way toward a nearby park, with Keith behind him and Hunk and Shiro bringing up the rear. It sounded like they were still talking about engineering or whatever, so Keith closed the distance between him and Lance. “Hey.”

Lance grinned at him, which led to Keith trying to not lose his shit. “Hiya, Keithy! Are you hyped for all the awesome snow stuff we’re gonna get into?!” 

With a roll of his eyes, Keith chuckled. “You bet.” 

Once they reached the park, Lance quickly downed his coffee, tossed it, and ran toward some undisturbed snow, laughing loudly as he went. Keith watched in surprise as the taller boy just fell face first into the snow.

Keith hurried over, trying to check on him, as Lance rolled over onto his back, giggling. Keith stared at him, dumbfounded. Lance glanced up at him. “What?”

Keith tried to hide his smile. “You are going to get hypothermia and I would not be surprised.”

“Oh, hush your mouth,” Lance sat up then, looking over at Hunk. “Hunk! You comin’?”

Hunk looked over at Lance, who was standing with Shiro by the trash can Lance threw his empty cup into, and smiled. “Yeah, in a little bit, okay?”

“Ughhh,” Lance groaned, flopping onto his back. 

Keith set his cup of coffee on the snow nearby, and then proceeded to flop on his back beside Lance. 

Neither said anything at first, but Lance quickly broke. “Hi, mullethead.”

Keith sighed exasperatedly, sitting up again. “Okay, first of all, stop calling me that. Second of all, I do not have a mullet!”

Lance propped himself on his elbows and glanced over with a small smirk on his face. “Are you sure?” Before Keith knew it, the blue-eyed boy was leaning over. Leaning over super close. His breath hung in the air between them, and Keith felt his cheeks grow steadily pinker. Then Lance murmured, “Because it looks like it to me.”

Then he flicked Keith’s bangs with one hand. Keith had barely reacted before his face was suddenly hit with cold wetness. He sputtered, shoving the snow away and glaring at Lance. He looked ready for a fight, a snowball in hand and a mischievous grin on his lips.

“Oh, it’s _on_!” Keith exclaimed, getting to his feet only to be knocked back onto the ground as a Lance’s snowball met its mark. 

Lance laughed, preparing another snowball. “Are you sure you wanna do this? I’m pretty good. Some would say I’m a sharpshooter,” he chuckled, shooting a finger gun with his free hand. 

Keith felt himself smirk as he wiped his face free of snow again. “Oh, I don’t know. I’d say you’re about to get destroyed.”

Within a few minutes, the two got into a fully-fledged snowball war, dragging Shiro and Hunk out. They split into pairs, and tried to use whatever was around them to escape the threats of their enemies.

At one point, Lance was aiming for Keith, but accidently let go a little too soon and hit Shiro in the back of the head. “Wha…?” He exclaimed, turning to see who had hit him.

“Oop, sorry Shiro! I was trying to hit Keith.” 

At his enemy’s distraction, Keith seized his opportunity, quickly making a snowball before sending it toward Lance. It hit him square in the face, and he groaned in annoyance. Keith smirked at him. “Heh, like that?”

Lance started cracking up, getting another snowball ready to throw at him as Keith began sprinting away.

After a while, as the battle was reaching its peak in intensity and competition, Hunk decided to quit because of how cold he was, joined shortly by Shiro, and then begrudgingly Lance and Keith. 

“I was so close to winning. You were quaking in your boots, I could tell,” Lance bragged, elbowing Keith in the arm. 

“Then you’re probably blind,” Keith laughed, giving Lance a light punch in the shoulder. 

“Lance?” Hunk asked, interrupting their playful jabs. 

“What’s up?”

“Could we head back to your house? Some cocoa sounds awesome right now.” 

Lance nodded. “Yeah, definitely!” He turned to Shiro, smiling wide. “Nice seeing you again, Shiro. And as for _you_ ,” Lance reached over and tried to ruffle Keith’s hair. “I’ll be seeing you tomorrow bright and early!” Keith batted Lance’s hand away, unable to hide his own smile. Lance gave him one last dazzling grin, then turned and hurried after Hunk.

As the brothers began to walk back home, Shiro nudged Keith. “So… how was hanging out with Lance?”

Keith groaned, trying to hide his flushed face (along with a silly grin). Eventually, he looked to Shiro, not trying to hide his smile. “It was awesome. Thank you for coming with me.”

Shiro shrugged, smiling to himself. “No problem, lil bro. Just glad to see you happy.”

When they got home, the two played video games until the darkness of the room made Keith return to his room, collapse onto his bed, and fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update will be April 29th, catch ya then! Bye!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! If you have any questions, you can contact me through my tumblr: http://spacey-nerdork.tumblr.com
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
